Shadow Touched (14 page)

The growling got louder. Slavering canines crept out of the trees, teeth bared, ears pinned back. They were a breed with sharp noses, bones delineated, muscles wired for swift attack. The dogs surrounded the fae and her, waiting for a signal to leap and shred.

Fear prickled down Ellie’s spine. She was a shadow, invincible, so nothing was supposed to hurt her here. But her instincts said otherwise. In the mortal world, her shadow might be unbeatable, might be able to fight to protect her and even Cam with extraordinary force. But here, where everything was extraordinary?

“Fae? Can they hurt us?”

“Hurt? Yes. Of course.”

“But you said you couldn’t die,” Ellie argued.

“I can’t. You’re very lucky that way.”

Lucky, like hell. “JT!”

A sharp bark and one of the dogs sprang, knocking her down. It crouched heavy on her chest and grabbed her throat with its teeth, but didn’t gnash. Hot saliva dripped onto her skin.

She hadn’t the strength or courage to dislodge it, not even as her shadow. The dog was stronger than she. And why?

Because her shadow protected her physical body, and that part of herself was on the other side of the falls, too far to save. Furthermore, she’d hated her shadow all her life, and in Twilight that hatred weakened her and made her vulnerable.

Movement drew her eyes to a short figure emerging from the trees. JT walked purposefully toward her. He’d lost his shirt and shoes, and now wore only cargo shorts. The pockets bulged and a slingshot was held close by a belt loop. He carried a stick fashioned into a spear in his hands. His mother had said he was tough.

“Sit,” the boy commanded.

A few high whines and all the animals were on their haunches. The dog at her throat released her and climbed off her body.

She pushed herself up, breathless. “JT, your mom sent me to take you home. We don’t have much time.”

JT didn’t seem happy to be saved. “Lie to me again and I’ll really sic my dogs on you.”

Ellie looked back at the cruel animals. “I thought you were afraid of them.”

“I was,” he said, taunting her. “But I’m not anymore.”

She fought a smile. Good for him. His nightmare was now his protection. Tough, smart kid. She wished she could learn to do that. She was afraid every day.

He frowned down at her. “What kind of a monster are you?”

“I’m a
shadow
,” Ellie said, holding out her dusky hands. For once she was glad to be what she was. A shadow could do things no one else could—at least in the mortal world. Now if she could just make him cooperate . . . “I was sent here to bring you back to your mom because shadows like me can go in and out of this place, and most people need help to get out.”

“My mom is everywhere here,” he said, skeptical.

“She said to call you her knight, and that you’d know I was safe to follow.” There . . . now they had to hurry.

“All the moms here call me their knight.” He was sad and angry. His heart must have betrayed him to the other fae. “None of them are real.”

 

Cam put the gun to the mage’s temple. “You said you could help?”

“We need to start an IV,” the medic said. “Her heart rate is dropping.”

Ellie might not want to commit murder, but Cam was very calmly willing to do so.

 

“Okay, no knight,” Ellie said. “You like Legos, cars, building things?”

He seemed determined not to trust her.

“What about your turtle, Speedo?”

JT disregarded her and looked up at the fae. “I know you.” He took a step back, thought for a sec, took another and raised his spear. “You’re the one who trapped me here.”

Ellie lunged forward to stop him. “JT, no!”

The dogs surged to all fours and barked in unison, sharp, mean sounds that would harry anyone back.

“Be careful,” the fae said to JT. “We are the same. You will hurt yourself.”

The dogs crouched. Their growls made Ellie’s shadow skin flush with goose bumps.

She watched as JT looked the fae in its Shadow eyes. Something transferred in that moment that sent a shudder through them both.

“My mom didn’t want you,” JT said.

“She wants
you
,” Ellie said. Her body was failing. He didn’t believe her. No time left.

“My mom is looking for me.” His posture weakened slightly, the spear’s aim faltering.

“We have to go, JT.” She was losing herself. “Please just give me a chance.”

He looked down at his spear, considering. He’d been so strong for so long.

 

A woman’s gut-born cry snapped Cam’s attention from the mage back around. Ellie.

But it was Ms. Parson, lunging toward the waterfall. She babbled through her tears, arms outstretched.

A boy streaked into her embrace with force enough to knock the woman over.

And on the ground, Ellie’s back arched into a bow. Her eyes were wide open, mouth gaping as she drew in a huge gulp of air.

The gush of water evaporated into nothing, and her shadow stood in the murky wake, naked, glorious, her dark gaze on Cam.

“T
he blood trail led to the flood waters, but we couldn’t track beyond that,” Cam said to Thorne on the phone. “It was my fault for letting him out of my sight before he was properly restrained.”

Col. Langer had expressed his displeasure eloquently and at length.

“You mean you lost sight of one of the Shadow-born in the midst of an unprecedented paranormal event? I’ll dock your pay.”

Cam laughed. Felt good. And everyone knew he wouldn’t let it happen again. “Just so long as our assignments are restricted to this world only. We had it all wrong. Ellie’s shadow
can
cross into Twilight, but it’s not worth it.”

“Agreed,” Thorne answered. “I wish I could send you to New York for a little R&R, but you need to come back to Segue so we can take some scans of your eyes. Do some tests.”

Ha. “You mean I’m going to become the rat, when I used to wear the white coat.”

“That’s exactly right,” Thorne said. “But for a little while only. I need to know the scope of your vision. And in the meantime you can get up to speed on the Order and magekind. We’ve got a situation with the wraiths, too—you’re going to have a lot of fun.”

His promotion. “And Ellie?”

“I’d like for her to mix with the staff here as well. I want to shake up those who will be bothered by her shadow, so we know who they are, and give her the opportunity to make connections as well. Maybe a few friends. She can’t always depend on you.”

More people. But, yes, it was time.

And Segue was a good place to start.

“They were the ugliest, most rabid dogs I’ve ever seen,” Ellie said.

Angie Parson had a hand over her mouth. She shook her head back and forth, disbelieving.

“No exaggeration.” Ellie grinned. “One of the beasts was poised to rip me to shreds when JT comes striding out and says, ‘Sit,’ like he’s the king of the pack.”

They leaned together on the wall just outside JT’s door. He was sleeping now, having been checked over thoroughly and fed.

Ellie had been checked over thoroughly as well. And then kissed by Cam, whose intense, black eyes were growing on her.

Later,
she told herself.

“But he’s scared of dogs,” Angie said. “Since he was two and our neighbors had this really loud, jumpy Doberman.”

“Yeah, he’s not so scared now.” Ellie laughed. “I, on the other hand . . .”

Angie put a hand to her throat. “I just . . . I’m so grateful. . . . My boys are everything to me.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Ellie said, shrugging. “Makes my situation easier. Worth it.”

And suddenly she was enveloped in a tight hug. When Angie pulled back, Ellie was trying not to cry. No one but Cam chose to touch her.

“Um . . .” Ellie said to get control of herself again. “So they’ve told you he might have side effects. Have a hard time being himself for a while.”

Angie nodded. “I’ve got Dr. Kalamos’s card, and I’ve had a call from a Mr. Thorne of your Segue Institute. He said he has boys himself who are a little unusual.”

“Then everything will be fine,” Ellie said, and strangely, she believed it.

 

Cam dropped himself beside Ellie on the cot. He yawned widely in an old-school smooth move to get his arm around her shoulders and bring her closer. “We have been ordered directly to Segue. I’m to be studied, dissected, and tested, and I’ve decided I’m going to like it.”

Ellie snuggled in. “It’s about time it was someone else’s turn.”

She’d given up her anger during the thrill of success, but he knew things weren’t all right between them. A full reconciliation would take a little doing, but he was determined to make it happen. And he’d enjoy that, too.

“We’ve a detour to take, however, so that, among other things, I may be examined by a much higher and more exhaustive authority.”

“Uh-oh. Who? The Order?” He knew Ellie didn’t like the angelic Order at all.

“Alas, I think the Order would be gentler,” Cam said. “I’m referring to my mother.”

Ellie went still. He doubted she was breathing.

“The good news,” he continued, “is that her scrutiny will be divided. She won’t know whether to skewer her firstborn or the only woman he’s ever brought home to meet her.”

A haze of darkness trembled around Ellie, probably her panic challenging her control of her shadow. Understandable.

“We’ve got to talk about that night, sweetheart,” Cam said. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

He’d wanted Ellie to come to the same conclusion that her shadow had. He’d wanted the Big Admission to come from all of her. What he hadn’t figured was that he could say it first and wait for her to come around in her own good time. Which would most likely be years after she met his mom.

A lash of dark movement, and Ellie’s shadow, fully opaque, straddled his lap. Her perfect breasts were in his face, hips rocking back to torment him. He was glad he had a broken rib to keep his mind clear. This was not going to help his cause. “No—”

Ellie herself shifted, he thought to move away, but she settled herself into her shadow, enveloped her dark self so that only she was before him on his lap. She tipped his chin up to meet her gaze. A flush worked its way up her neck to flood her cheeks with color and add shine to her blue eyes. She wanted him. It was a good place to start.

“There’s something I wanted to tell you, too,” she said.

M
arcie rinsed her chef’s knife in the kitchen sink of the Segue Institute, and in a flash of overhead light on the long triangle of steel, she caught the brief reflection of an unfamiliar brown-haired man watching her from the doorway. Something about the tilt of his head signaled stealth and menace. She knew and cooked for everyone at Segue, so . . .

Intruder.

Fear thinned her breath, but her heartbeat didn’t jolt, thanks to the beta blockers she was taking for her high blood pressure. She kept her hands steady, gripping the wet handle of the blade in her right one.

She forced herself to turn, the knife uplifted. Drops of rapidly cooling water slid down her arm to amp her spook-born goose bumps.

She glanced around the kitchen—stainless walk-in fridge, island stacked with clean dishes to put away, double-wide dishwasher open to her left. The corners and cubbies of the kitchen were dark, while the air smelled soapy and water fresh.

There was no one there.

Which, after so many years of working there, she knew that meant she had to look harder.

The Segue Institute was the preeminent research organization for all things paranormal and it was housed in a haunted, renovated turn-of-the-century hotel. The place was supposedly loaded with what the scientists there called Shadow, capital
S
, a scary word for magic. Dark magic.

What she’d learned from all their research, however, was to trust the skittish hairs on the back of her neck. And right now they were tingling with a message of imminent danger.

She reached back and pressed the panic button under the counter and primed herself for the wait. Steam rose from the sink to dampen the back of her T-shirt.

Everyone either had retired for the night or was downstairs on the research level in a supersecret meeting—not so secret if she knew about it. They might as well have had the meeting in the kitchen, because if she lived through this, she would know the details in bits and pieces by the end of tomorrow anyway. And if she died, she’d take other secrets with her.

She giggled a little hysterically, then went for an old-fashioned, “Who’s there?”

He wasn’t a ghost or a wraith. A ghost, like that mean, hollow-eyed girl who haunted Segue, could scare her but couldn’t do much else. And a wraith would’ve killed her already and eaten her soul. The intruder wasn’t beautiful like the angels who’d been in and out of Segue this last year. And the fae were trapped in Twilight.

Which left something new. Goody. She got to be today’s ambassador to the paranormal.

“Just so you know,” Marcie said to the kitchen, “I’m using you for a raise.”

Most of the staff were required to do some defensive training; she was required to feed them. But she was proud of her fast and even chopping skills, had her tool of choice in hand—the only knife a chef needs really—and was prepared to use it, even if she had to flail into open air.

She held her breath to listen for the slightest movement. Felt something cold . . . there.

She struck out as an unearthly light shimmered into sight on the other side of the island. A little girl in gold ringlets and a pinafore appeared out of nowhere, ultrareal yet otherworldly. Segue’s ghost. Her eyes were hollow, and her expression was contorted with rage. Behind her face lurked another, that of a grown woman, bitter and violent. Darkness was etched around her as if she were punched out of time.

“This is my place!” the girl shrieked in the direction of the lasagna dishes on the island.

The ghost’s anger blasted through the air like ripples on water, and for a moment, the intruder was revealed. A man, on the thin side. Average height. He’d recoiled at the ghost’s appearance, then glanced at Marcie, and she frowned at his black eyes.
Oh. You’re one of those.
He was clutching a black dagger, ready to kill. And he was now standing close enough to strike.

Me first.
She’d find a way to thank the little girl ghost later.

Marcie sliced through the air as the intruder disappeared again. Hit resistance. Came away with her blade tinged red.

A flutter of air brushed her cheek. She dodged back, but felt a searing line burn across her left-side collar bone and upper arm. Smelled the metallic scent of her own blood. A big raise, then.

She jabbed upward and snagged a bit of his clothing—jacket maybe. Which meant he had to be . . . She brought her knee up and felt the satisfaction of a solid connection, just like her big brother Bryan had taught her.

But a bright burst of pain along her jaw had her falling on top of the open dishwasher. She leaned into the glasses and bowls in the upper tray, turning her weight, expecting another dash of his knife. She clutched her own to deflect it, but felt the vulnerability of her belly, while she tried to save her neck.

But the stab came even lower, at her groin.

The spear of pain had her tumbling down the dishwasher, her head coming to rest on the edge of the open door. Wet heat seeped from her crotch into the thigh of her jeans. She dropped her chef’s knife and pressed her hands to the gash at her leg. Blood pumped through her fingers like warm, honeyed milk.
No no no . . .
This was bad, very bad.

Movement brought her attention over and up above the island, where the kitchen door was swinging open. The cavalry at last.
Thank God.
The head and shoulders of Adam Thorne, founder of Segue, came into view, the rest of him blocked by the island.

“Mage,” Marcie said, so he’d know what he was up against. Ferocious chills raced over her body. So much blood.

Adam glanced down, spoke urgently but inaudibly, then mouthed a shout over his shoulder. Sound was going funny with her panic.

Adam moved around the island to get to her, but Eleanor Russo’s disembodied shadow got to her first, phasing suddenly through the barrier of the island to crouch at her side. The flesh-and-blood form of Ellie wouldn’t be far behind, slowed by walls and doors.

Marcie’s eyes burned with relief, a sob forming in her throat. Everything was going to be okay. Ellie’s shadow was here. That was shadow with a lowercase
s
, the dark human form everybody had, only Ellie’s wasn’t always attached to her body. Strong, protective to a fault, the shadow could defend them all. That mage had better run, because Ellie’s shadow could and would take him apart.

And then Adam was next to her too, pressing a dish towel down hard, so hard, on the wound. Yes. Everything was going to be okay now. Please let everything be okay.

Dr. Cam Kalamos came into view next. Ellie’s boyfriend, and if his plans tonight played out the way he wanted—Marcie had been consulted and had approved the particulars—then tomorrow he’d be Ellie’s fiancé.

Damn mages ruined
everything.

Marcie had planned to get back to Segue early tomorrow to hear the news first, then to steal Ellie away to get a manicure to go with the diamond. The mage had ruined that plan. Her disappointment tasted bitter. Made her want to cry. And here Marcie had so many ideas for the wedding and a stack of bridal magazines to go through too.

Cam answered Adam’s question by shaking his head, as if he couldn’t see an intruder within the Shadows gathered in the kitchen.

Well, she hadn’t stabbed herself.

“What happened?” came another voice, familiar, but she was too faint and nauseated to identify who’d spoken.

But see? Everyone always eventually gathered in the kitchen.

Sparks of light swarmed her vision until all she saw was diffuse brightness, so cold that it washed over her like water and seeped into her body all the way to her bones.

“Marcie . . . ?” Adam again. Other words followed but they didn’t seem to string together correctly, so she ignored them. A gurney would be lovely, though.

Into the glare of light, a dark body shape leaned above her, so she wasn’t alone.

It was Ellie’s shadow, now fully opaque in her intensity, three dimensional, her features absent of color and potentially frightening in their utter blackness, but still so totally sweet Ellie.

Hello, friend,
Marcie thought. Her eyes were dry, but she didn’t have the energy to blink or breathe and she really didn’t want to miss a moment. . . . Something was happening—an energy in the air. Something big . . .

But then Ellie’s shadow’s worried expression contracted as if she’d been stabbed as well, and she shrieked a terrifying sound of pain—even though nothing physical could ever harm her. Only Ellie’s
body
could hurt, not the shadow.

The world fell away, magic surging in a tidal wave of dishwater humidity that lifted Marcie on a crest of terrible wonder. Her heart chugged hard. Her senses faltered. And she understood why. Too much blood, too fast. The mage had aimed just right.

No. Wait.
Please!

The sound of Ellie’s grief carried Marcie over the brink into memory and Shadow and Beyond.