Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
The Food Lion parking lot was disappointingly normal when Daniel arrived. No mysterious figures, no excited crowds, just people loading groceries into their cars, completely unaware that a half-fae from another world had stood here less than an hour ago.
The drive had taken Daniel only twenty minutes, but of course he'd come too late. Caelen was already gone, and Daniel sat in his car, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. What would Caelen even want in a grocery store? The thought of the Shadow King pushing a shopping cart, trying to decide between sour cream or BBQ flavor chips, was so absurd it almost made him laugh.
But then, even the Shadow King had to eat, didn't he?
Maybe he'd come for Pop-Tarts.
Daniel had read a fanfiction like that once.
He shook his head.
Focus.
He wasn't going to learn anything from inside his car, so he got out and went into the store to have a look around. The automatic doors slid open with a soft whoosh, and Daniel hesitated just inside, once more aware of how ridiculous this was. What was he going to do, walk up to random people and ask if they'd seen the hot guy trending on social media?
Well, there wasn't anything else he could do.
He approached an elderly woman examining tomatoes.
"Excuse me, did you happen to see a man with long white hair earlier?"
She peered at him over her glasses. "White hair? No, dear. Are you looking for your grandfather?"
Right. This was going great.
He tried again with a stock boy, who just shrugged and continued stacking cereal boxes. A woman with two kids told him she'd been too busy keeping her youngest from climbing the shelves to notice anyone else.
With each interaction, Daniel felt more and more like a creep. What was he doing? Following Caelen around like some obsessed…
"Are you asking about that cosplay guy?"
Daniel turned to find a teenage girl practically vibrating with excitement, her name tag identifying her as 'Ashley.'
"I..." Daniel hesitated. He'd always thought it might be cool to be Internet famous, but right now, he didn't want to be. He only wanted to find Caelen. "Yes," he admitted, then quickly steered the conversation back to Caelen. "Did you see the white-haired man here?"
"I took, like, fifty pictures," Ashley said, already swiping through her phone. "He's so hot. Like every picture turned out well. Do you want to see?" She held her phone out to Daniel. "Are you two like together? Cause like in the theater video?—"
"Did he say anything about what he wanted from the store?" Daniel cut her off.
"I think you look really cute together."
"Thank you," Daniel responded almost automatically. Then he wiped his face with the flat of his palm. This conversation was not going how he wanted it to.
"So you are together!" Ashley beamed. "That's so hot. You're so lucky!"
"Listen, do you have any idea where he went after he left here?" Daniel tried not to sound as impatient as he felt.
"Oh! He was asking Jake at customer service about the oldest church in town." She glanced toward the front of the store. "Said something about historical architecture? Super weird. Hey, could I get a selfie with you?"
"A church?" Daniel frowned. "Why would he want to go there?"
Ashley shrugged. "No idea. But it was definitely St. Michael's he asked about. You know, the old stone one on Hill Street? With, like, that creepy cemetery?" She peered at him more closely. "Hey, in the video, were those special effects, or…"
"St. Michael's. Got it. Thanks," Daniel said quickly, already heading for the exit. "That helps a lot."
Behind him, he heard Ashley calling something about filming a video together, but he was in too much of a hurry to stop and listen. The church. What would Caelen want at a church?
St. Michael's loomed against the afternoon sky, its stone walls a weathered gray. Daniel parked across the street and stared up at the bell tower. The place looked deserted.
His footsteps crunched on gravel as he made his way up to the heavy wooden doors. They didn't budge when he tried them.
"C'mon," he muttered, giving the handle another useless tug.
But of course it was locked. What had he expected? That Caelen would be sitting in a pew, maybe lighting a candle?
A gust of wind rustled through nearby trees, and Daniel wrapped his arms around himself, scanning the grounds. The church sat on a small hill, with worn stone steps leading down to…
His heart stopped.
There, between the tilted headstones of the cemetery, stood a familiar figure. White hair caught the light as Caelen turned, and their eyes met across the distance.
For a moment, neither of them moved. Caelen's green eyes met his across the distance, and Daniel's breath caught in his throat. Almost, he could feel the connection between them. Almost.
He focused on it, tried to force it back to life. If he could just reach out and touch Caelen, he was sure…
"Caelen." He took a step forward.
Still, Caelen did not move.
The wind picked up, sending fallen leaves skittering across the ground between them. Daniel took another step forward, his heart thundering in his chest.
"Please," Daniel said. "Just talk to me."
Something shifted in Caelen's stance, a subtle change that made Daniel hesitate. His bright eyes flickered, darkened, then cleared again, like clouds passing over the sun. Daniel's skin prickled with warning. He couldn't tell if he was approaching the man who'd clung to him in the bookstore, or the being who'd drained him to the point of passing out.
When Daniel noticed Caelen's fingers twitching at his sides, he realized it was likely both.
Of course it was both.
For only a moment, Daniel hesitated. Then he started walking again. He wasn't going to be scared, damn it. Possessed or not, he had to believe that Caelen wasn't going to hurt him. Not seriously, in any case.
But before Daniel could reach Caelen, the half-fae's face twisted with something that looked like regret. He shook his head—a small, pained gesture.
"Foolish mortal," he said. "Can't you see that it isn't safe for you to be around me?"
Daniel opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything or even attempt to close the distance between them, darkness bloomed around Caelen like spilled ink. In the space of a heartbeat, he was gone, leaving Daniel alone among the headstones.
Daniel stared at the empty space where Caelen had been, his outstretched hand falling uselessly to his side. The shadows had taken him so quickly, it was as if he'd never been there at all.
"Damn it," Daniel cursed. "Damn it, Caelen."
Now how was Daniel supposed to find him again?
Caelen materialized between rows of parked metal vehicles, fluorescent lights humming overhead. For a moment, he stayed perfectly still, letting his senses adjust to the concrete cavern. The artificial light was almost welcome. It was something to focus on besides Morthul's rage burning through his skull.
You left him. The dark god's voice echoed through his thoughts. He was right there.
Caelen didn't answer. He couldn't risk thinking about Daniel at all, not with Morthul so close to the surface. Even the memory of those warm brown eyes watching him across the cemetery threatened to crack his control. So instead, he focused on his surroundings, on the sharp scent of exhaust fumes and oil-stained concrete. He had no idea where he'd transported himself. The shadows had taken him wherever they wished in his desperation to get away.
His desperation to get away from his mate .
He couldn't stop the thought from forming.
What had he come to that he had to flee from his mate?
Pathetic , he told himself. He should have taken Daniel. He should have…
No, he couldn't let himself think that.
A car engine echoed somewhere above, the sound bouncing off concrete pillars. He needed to move, to find somewhere less exposed. Soon. He would move soon. Once he'd had a moment to breathe.
What would he do next? He'd gone to the church specifically to make Morthul think about something other than Daniel…
"There don't seem to be any other gods in this realm," he said out loud. "Not truly."
The church was empty, Morthul said, rising to the bait. Like all the others. No one guards this realm. No one protects these mortals.
"Yes," Caelen said. "We found nothing."
We found our human.
No, Daniel had found him , damn him.
"I didn't mean…" Caelen cut himself off. Denying Daniel's importance would only make Morthul more suspicious. He needed to come at this from another angle.
Morthul's laughter echoed through his skull. Do you think you can hide your thoughts from me, little shadow? I own your soul. Every desperate plan, every pathetic attempt to distract me… I see it all.
The truth of it burned.
But Caelen wasn't ready to give up yet. He still had one trick left up his sleeve, one that the dark god wouldn't deny him even if he saw through his intentions.
He focused his thoughts. "New followers," he said. "We can get you new followers. In the absence of all the mortal gods, we can become God of this world."
Yesss , Morthul agreed. We shall claim this world. We shall rule supreme. We shall have everything we want.
Caelen nodded, feeling the god's approval, all his greedy desires. "All we need is a little spectacle to draw people in…"
Daniel slammed his car door harder than necessary when he got back to Bookmark'd . Even the jangling of the bells when he stepped into the store only served to piss him off further.
Jamie looked up from the register, took one look at his face, and said, "I take it things didn't go well?"
"He was there," Daniel said, joining his brother by the counter. "Right there. And then he was just… poof ." He made an explosive gesture with his hands. "Gone."
"Good," Jamie said, and held up his hands defensively when Daniel glared at him. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this, but really, it's for the best that he's gone. I hope he stays gone."
"Whatever." Daniel was in no mood to argue with his brother.
Jamie gave him another look and then grabbed a box of books from under the counter. "Here. Make yourself useful and shelve these. Non-fiction section."
Daniel eyed the box. "Really? The most boring books in the store?"
"They're not boring, they're practical. You could use some practicality in your life. Now get to it."
Daniel grabbed the box of non-fiction books and headed for the shelves, muttering under his breath about boring books for boring people.
While he shoved tax guides onto the shelf, his mind wandered back to the cemetery. That tension in the air when their eyes had met… Daniel couldn't shake the image of Caelen's face, the way his expression had filled with regret. The memory made his chest ache.
He picked up the next book without really seeing it. What was he supposed to do? Chase Caelen across town forever? Let him go? He scoffed at himself.
As if he could ever let Caelen go.
A customer brushed past him, muttering an apology, and Daniel realized he'd been standing there holding the same book for who knew how long. He checked the spine—"Small Business Tax Deductions"—and slid it into place with perhaps more force than necessary.
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
A message from Adrian: Something's up with the Barrier Keepers. I'm worried. Get back here when you can.
The Barrier Keepers.
Shit, he'd almost forgotten about them.
He set the box of books down. "Hey, Jamie, remember how I'm still technically on vacation?"
Jamie shot him a curious look. "Are you going to skip out on me again?"
Daniel held up his phone. "Adrian says something's up with the Barrier Keepers."
Jamie frowned. "Do you really need to get involved with that?"
"It involves my friends."
Jamie looked conflicted. Obviously, he didn't want Daniel to tell to ignore his friends, but he didn't want Daniel to invite more trouble either. "Look, after everything that happened with Caelen... maybe you should take a break from all the supernatural drama."
"I can't just ignore it." Daniel was already grabbing his jacket. "I'll call you later, promise."
Jamie shook his head, but there was really nothing he could do to keep Daniel from leaving.