Marina's Awakening (Seduced By Shadows Book 2)

Chapter Twelve

My lungs heave with each breath as I hold Marina against me, my hand still covering her mouth to stifle any outcry. The light filtering through the cracks of the door barely trickles in, and she thrashes against me, trying to get free.

”Shh, it”s me, Gabriel,” I whisper, removing my hand from her mouth.

Her eyes widen for a split second, and I see the initial shock morph into relief. ”Gabriel,” she breathes out, her voice shaky. Her hands are fists, clutching at my jacket, but her body relaxes against mine. She closes her eyes and leans her forehead against my chest. ”Thank god,” she mutters.

I chuckle softly, glad that my presence has helped calm her down, but the situation isn”t any less dire. I don”t know what happened out there or what caused all that chaos, but those people were after her. Really after her. We still have to get out of here.

Before another word can be said, Marina throws her arms around my neck, pulling me closer. Our lips meet in a frenzy of raw emotion, desperate kisses exchanged between two lovers who thought they”d lost one another. Our world shrinks as we sink into the moment, my senses consumed by her presence, her smell, her taste.

When she finally pulls away, I ask, ”What was that for?”

”For not leaving me,” she states simply.

I hold her face gently between my hands, our foreheads touching. ”I”ve got you, Marina. I wouldn”t just leave you like that,” I murmur, my voice laced with an emotion I can”t quite name.

Her eyes, still glistening from the tears of fear she”d shed, search mine. ”I know that. Thank you, Gabriel.”

”I”d never let anything happen to you,” I reply, sealing my promise with another tender kiss.

We stand there, wrapped in each other”s arms, the weight of the world momentarily lifted off our shoulders. But even as I hold her, I know we can”t stay hidden forever. The night is still young, and danger lurks in every corner of this mansion. We need a plan, and fast.

”Marina,” I start, pulling away slightly to look into her eyes, ”we can”t stay here. We need to find a way out.”

She nods, determination replacing the fear in her gaze as she presses her ear to the door. We”re in a closet, and there isn”t much space, so I have to lean over her to listen as well. The muffled sounds of footsteps and hushed voices gradually fade, replaced by an eerie silence that unsettles me. It could be a good thing—the crowd is gone—or it could be the calm before the storm.

”I think it”s clear,” I whisper, cautiously stepping toward the door.

She nods, gripping my hand as we make our way out of our temporary sanctuary. We move stealthily, sticking to the shadows, our senses heightened to the slightest sound. The mansion”s corridors twist and turn, a labyrinthine maze that seems designed to confuse and disorient.

Just as we”re about to turn a corner, the sound of footsteps echoes down the hall, growing louder and more distinct with each passing second. A knot tightens in the pit of my stomach, dread spreading like wildfire through my veins.

We slip behind a statue of an ancient goddess, using the stone column as a shield against view. I hold up my hand, signaling Marina to stay quiet, hoping it”s enough to stop her from making any noise. And then I hear something else. Voices, and they”re headed straight for us.

”I don”t care what they say,” one voice mutters quietly, a man by the sound of it. ”That girl is here tonight.”

”He”s just being paranoid,” another replies. ”Besides, there are cameras in the main hall. If anyone saw anything suspicious, we wouldn”t be having this conversation. We”d be fileting a former vamp.”

There”s a long pause before the first speaker continues, ”Just trust me on this. We can”t take any chances. We don”t leave witnesses, you know the drill. She knows too much. The boss needs her gone.”

”I know that, but—” the second voice starts, but is cut off by the first one.

”No buts! That girl has got to go. Tonight. No exceptions,” he says firmly, his tone leaving no room for arguments.

They keep moving closer and closer toward our location until we hear a door open up ahead of us. The footsteps stop briefly as they exchange a few hushed words, and then continue down the hall, gradually fading away. Without hesitation, I grab Marina”s hand and pull her into a nearby room, the door groaning softly on its hinges as we slip inside.

The room we find ourselves in is a study, and it”s much homier than the rest of the house. The walls are lined with dark wood paneling, and the air is thick with the scent of old books and leather. A large oak desk sits at the center of the room, covered with scattered papers and antique quill pens. Bookshelves filled with dusty volumes and antique curiosities line the walls. It feels almost like stepping back in time, a glimpse of an ancient era where knowledge was more valuable than gold.

I step further into the room and make my way over to one of the bookshelves, hoping to get a better idea of what we”re up against. From behind me, I hear Marina release a long breath. ”That was close,” she mutters.

”I know. We need to get out of here, but this place is like a maze,” I reply, scanning the shelves.

”Maybe we should just camp out here and wait until they give up the search,” she suggests. ”The door locks from the inside, so even if they did follow us in here, they wouldn”t be able to get in. The door is too heavy to break down. It”s like a security door or something.”

She”s right. If we stay in here long enough, maybe they”ll lose interest and move on with their hunt. It seems like the only logical option. So I nod and pull out a chair for her to sit in. ”Fine by me. Hopefully, it won”t be long and then we can slip out without anyone noticing.”

Marina nods, sinking into the chair, and looks around at the room. ”If we were lucky, maybe we”ll stumble on a secret passage or something,” she says, more to herself than to me. ”I mean, this place has to have some sort of secret escape route. There must be somewhere else people can go when they don”t want to be disturbed.”

”I wouldn”t be surprised. You know how these rich people are, always obsessed with hiding their secrets from the world,” I say as I start to rifle through papers on the desk. ”In the meantime, let”s see what we can find out about these nutjobs.”

I sift through the scattered papers on the desk, my eyes scanning the handwritten notes and documents. My heart skips a beat when I stumble upon a file that includes a photograph. It”s a picture of a man—the same man who was just dancing with Marina—dressed in a sharp suit.

”Marina, take a look at this,” I say, holding up the photograph for her to see. ”Isn”t that who you were dancing with when things went sideways?”

She scans the image and then frowns. ”That”s Charles Marlowe.”

”You know him?” I ask, my brows furrowing in confusion.

”We have a... complicated history,” she confirms. ”What”s that say about him?”

”I don”t know,” I admit. ”But this can”t be good.”

As we continue going through the paperwork, a clearer picture begins to emerge. Charles joined the Extractors because he believed vampires took his fiancée away from him, and he”s been searching for her ever since. The paperwork outlines his obsessive quest for revenge, detailing his efforts to track down and eliminate every vampire he comes across.

But why would he think his fiancée was taken by vampires? And why is he so fixated on Marina? According to the documents in front of me, Charles isn”t just a member of the Extractors, he heads them, and he”s been looking for Marina for a long, long time. None of this makes any sense.

When I glance up at Marina, the horrified look on her face tells me I”m missing something. Something huge.

Tears brim in her eyes, and she looks like she wants to be sick. ”There”s something I need to tell you about Charles Marlowe.”

”You mean that he”s obsessed with you?” I ask, but Marina shakes her head, fresh tears springing to her eyes. She pulls off her mask and drops it on the desk, then starts pacing back and forth in front of me. Her lips are drawn into a thin line, her brows furrowed as she thinks hard about whatever is plaguing her mind.

I stand up, my hands resting on her shoulders to stop her from walking. ”Marina, please,” I say softly. ”I need to know what happened between the two of you so that I can understand why he hates you so much. You have to tell me everything.”

Her bottom lip trembles as she fights back more tears. The sadness in her eyes guts me, twisting the knife that”s already in my heart. ”Charles Marlowe and I were engaged to be married.” Her voice breaks slightly on the last word, and her face crumples as if it”s all too painful to bear.

The words feel like a bomb has gone off in my mind, blowing apart every piece of information I had about her, shredding all the little pieces that make up Marina and tossing them into oblivion. A million questions run through my head, each one competing for attention. I can”t think straight, but I do manage to choke out two words: ”Engaged?”

She nods. ”Yes,” she says simply, dropping her gaze to the floor.

Why wouldn”t she tell me this before? Why would she hide this from me? The leader of the Shadow Extractors was engaged to a vampire, and now that I”m involved, I”ve pretty much signed my own death warrant. Why didn”t she say anything before? How could she keep something like this from me?

My mind reels with the new information as it attempts to put itself back together again, piecing everything I thought I knew about her into some semblance of order. When my thoughts finally slow down enough for me to speak, all that comes out is a single question: ”Why didn”t you tell me?”