Savage

Chapter 3

Xev sank into the shadows as deeply as he could. More than anything, he wished that he could vanish into them and become nothing more than a vague, distant memory.

“No, you don’t.”

He froze at the sound of an unexpected male voice beside him.

Before he could move, the darkness there formed into the image of a boy somewhere around his age…probably older. His hazel-gray eyes were the strangest color Xev had ever seen. As was his hair. Neither light nor dark, he had strands of both that blended together to make those strands form a peculiar shade of brown.

There was something about him that seemed familiar. Xev felt as if he should know this boy, yet he’d never seen him before. That much, he was certain about.

“Who are you?”

“I’m hatred. Persecution.” A sly smile curved one half of the boy’s mouth. Not a smirk…something else entirely. “Hostility. But you can call me Shadow.”

“Shadow? That’s a weird name.”

“It’s fitting.” He raked a curious stare over Xev’s body. “Why have you invaded my domain?”

Xev scowled. “What domain?”

“Skatos…the shadows. This is my home. You don’t belong here.”

Rolling his eyes, he scoffed at the boy. “You don’t own the shadows.”

“You’re right. They own me. Why are you here?”

“I’m trying not to be seen.” He jerked his chin at Azura. “I hate her.”

Shadow snorted. “We all hate her. But what has she done to you personally?”

“She birthed me.”

“Ah.”

Xev arched a brow at that. “You’re not surprised?”

“Not really. You’re not her first kid. Doubt you’ll be her last.”

That news floored him. He’d always thought that he was an only child. “I have siblings?”

Shadow nodded.

“Where are they?”

“Avoiding her. Like you.”

That made sense. But it didn’t answer his question. “Seriously, do you know where they are?”

Shadow let out a tired sigh. “Anat is usually not far away from her side. They share genetic cruelty, and Anat revels in it. Because of that, Azura tolerates her more than any of the rest.”

Xev knew that snotty toad. With long black hair and cruel eyes, she was almost as nasty as Azura. “I’ve met her.” He just never realized they were related. “Who’s her father?”

“Noir.”

Ah. That made even more sense. “No wonder Azura pets her.”

“Not really. Azura isn’t much of a mother. Noir, however, adores his daughter and dotes on her endlessly.”

“I didn’t think he could feel anything.”

Shadow passed a snide smirk toward him. “You’re not a girl. And you’re not his.”

“I don’t want to be either one.” Especially not if it drew Noir’s attention. “Are there any others?”

“Probably. Hard to keep up with the kids they spawn.” There was a note in Shadow’s voice. One that said there was a lot more to this story.

Then Xev saw it…

Shadow was his brother. At least half. He shared Azura’s sharp features. They were beautiful on her.

On Shadow…

It gave him a strange, masculine beauty. Not pretty. He was too rugged for that. But they were similar enough that it was unmistakable.

Yet Xev didn’t understand why Shadow kept that knowledge from him. He must have his reasons. Then again, Xev didn’t trust easily. Being a child of the Queen of All Darkness tended to do that to people. No doubt, Shadow was every bit as jaded and suspicious of others as he was.

“Where do you live?” Xev asked, thinking it might give him clues about the brother he’d never met before.

“You’re standing in my home.”

Xev picked his feet up and frowned. “The sidewalk?”

“The shadows. I claimed them a long time ago.”

Weird place to claim, but who was he to judge? “Aren’t you lonely here by yourself?”

“Better lonely than abused. Besides, the silence soothes me.”

That made sense. And like Shadow, he found it soothing himself. Xev liked being able to walk in the shadows where others couldn’t see him, but he could see them. It was a nebulous realm that he’d just discovered. “Can I stay here? I can be quiet.”

“You sure? ’Cause I haven’t seen that side of you.”

Xev felt heat rush over his face. He was being chattier than usual, and he wasn’t sure why. Normally, he didn’t say five words in a week. Not even to himself. “Aren’t the shadows big enough for more than one person?”

Shadow gave him a droll stare. “Trust me. We won’t be alone. I should warn you that a lot of unsavory things call this place home, too.” Taking his arm, Shadow pulled Xev deeper into the darkness that expanded into a whole new world. One with its own landscape.

There were even buildings here.

Xev’s jaw dropped. How had he never known this existed? Obviously, he hadn’t gone far enough into the darkness to find all this. “Where are we?”

“I told you. Skatos. The land in between.”

“Between what?”

“Realms. From here, you can access any world or realm you wish.”

Xev gaped as the possibilities ran through his mind. “Really?”

Shadow nodded. “You just have to make sure not to get caught coming or going.”

“Caught by what?”

“Pretty much everyone. Gods. Men. Demons. None of them like it when you step out from this realm into theirs. Tends to freak them out.”

That made sense. Xev would be pretty pissed off to find someone stepping out of the shadows into his room. “You do that a lot?”

A smile slowly spread over Shadow’s face. “I love to shock others. Fighting and frightening’s in my blood.”

There was something insidious in the way he said that. It made Xev wonder how much of Azura ran in Shadow’s DNA. “Can you show me how this all works?”

Shadow grinned again. “Sure. Follow.”

Xev had to use his wings to keep up. He’d never seen anyone move so fast in this life, especially without wings. It was obvious Shadow had been born for this realm. Here, he was home. He knew every twist and turn as he led Xev through the shadowed landscape and towns to pop out in different places.

When Shadow finally stopped, Xev found himself staring out at a metal waterfall. “Where are we?”

“Another universe.”

Xev scowled at him. “What do you mean?”

Shadow jerked his chin to the left.

Xev looked through the thin, shimmery veil that separated them from the world. Like a lightweight curtain.

A man and woman were on the other side, laughing.

“Can they see us?”

Shadow shook his head. “Only if we breach the barrier.”

Xev watched as the couple began to kiss. “Isn’t this creepy?”

“Very much so. Just think of all the times you’ve been alone and thought you were being watched.” Shadow wagged his brows at him. “You probably were.”

Xev didn’t like the sound of that. At all. “Have you ever watched me?”

Shadow showed no remorse. “I watch everyone.”

Xev pulled back. “You perv!”

Shadow laughed. “Doesn’t change the fact of what we can do.” He moved a few feet over. With a wry grin, he walked through the veil, then stuck his head back in. “Care to join me?”

A part of Xev wanted nothing to do with this. But he was curious.

Surely, Shadow hadn’t jumped into the room where the couple had been kissing.

Had he?

Moving cautiously, lest he find out his brother wasn’t right, Xev stepped through the veil.

He saw nothing. No couple. No Shadow.

This was even more disconcerting.

Had his brother left?

Even more curious about the realm and where Shadow had vanished, Xev kept walking. Green and blue lights danced off in the distance in front of him. Never in his life had he seen anything like it. The lights appeared to dance.

Shadow laughed in his ear. “Those are neon lights.”

Xev didn’t understand the word. “Neon?”

“Yeah. There are all kinds of things here you can’t imagine.” Shadow beckoned him closer toward the edge of a cliff. Down below, it appeared as if stars had fallen from the sky. Thousands of lights twinkled on the ground. It was unlike anything Xev had ever seen before.

“What are those?” he asked.

“City lights.”

“City lights? You mean torches?”

Shadow smiled. “No. Tuck your wings in, then follow me. There are things here you can’t imagine.”

Xev tucked his wings, even though he wasn’t too sure about what they were doing. He followed Shadow through more darkness to emerge from shadows on what he thought was a street. But it was unlike any he’d ever beheld before.

Instead of dirt, the ground was solid and wet. Puddles were everywhere. Fog covered the…

They were definitely walls, but these weren’t the walls he was used to.

“They’re cement.”

Again, Xev didn’t understand the words Shadow was using.

This time, he didn’t have to ask. Shadow explained it without his asking. “Mixture of clay and…other things. It’s a building.”

Xev had never seen a building like this. “It’s exceptionally tall.”

“Yeah, they build them that way here.”

Incredulous, Xev looked up at the top that reached like a mountain toward the sky. That was impressive. Even more impressive? Some kind of metal bird flew overhead with a roar that would shame thunder. “What is this place?”

“The Ichidian universe.”

Xev gaped again as he turned in a circle, trying to take everything in. “I don’t understand.”

Shadow winked at him. “There are so many worlds in existence. You only know one.” He held his hands out and gestured toward the sky. “Expand your horizons, kid. We can go anywhere we want to.”

Xev didn’t speak as he saw a group of people leaving a building and walking down the street. They had on clothes unlike anything he’d ever beheld or worn. Materials that defied description. “Can we live here?”

“Sure. Until Azura summons you. And yes, she can reach you here. Just like us, they can come through the shadows.”

And she would. He knew that. She’d never let him have any peace. “Do you visit here often?”

Shadow shook his head. “There are some things here that are spectacular. But it’s not my world. For better or worse, I prefer what I know.”

Xev understood what he was saying, but it would be nice to be someone else for a while. Some days, he’d rather be anyone else than himself. “How did you find this place?”

“I’ve spent years exploring them all.”

That was what he wanted to do. “And how can you find your way back and forth?”

“Listen to the aether. Find a shadow and you can go anywhere.”

His heart sped up at the prospect. Maybe he could escape his mother, in spite of what Shadow said. Or at least make it harder for her to find him. “Can I time travel?”

Shadow snorted derisively. “Only a very special few have that ability, and even they rarely use it. It’s just not something you want to tamper with. Imagine the insanity if beings could time travel at will and change the future.”

Xev’s mother would probably go back in time to make sure he’d never been born. “That makes sense.” He peeked around the corner at all the metallic…things he’d never seen before. There were horseless chariots. Iron cans. Blinking lights that had no fire…Endless items he had no names for.

“Is this the same time as we live?”

“That is hard to explain. Time works differently in different places. A year to us can be more or less to others. But as you can see, they’re a lot more advanced on this world. That’s the one fun thing about visiting other realms. Some are more advanced and some less so.”

“Why don’t you live here?”

“I like the food. But as I said, it’s not home. Crappy as home is, it’s what I know and prefer.”

“I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t prefer it here.”

Shadow shrugged. “Home isn’t a place, little brother. It’s a feeling. Like lying in a field on a summer day. It’s warm and welcoming. The one place you want to be when shit goes wrong.”

Xev considered those words. It was what he’d had with Michi. But that was a long time ago. “Then I don’t have a home.”

“That’s the worst part of life. Not everyone does. But sometimes, you can make one, even with your enemies.”

That didn’t make sense to him. “How?”

Shadow pulled him back into the darkness. They ended up in Xev’s realm. Something he knew because they were watching his aunt, Lilit.

The sight of her made him smile—until she stepped aside, and then his blood ran cold.

She was with his father. Their features were close enough that there was no mistaking them. Jaden had the same coal-black hair. But unlike Xev, his cheeks were dusted with the remnants of a beard he was either growing out or one he hadn’t shaved for a few days.

Like Shadow, he would have been beautiful had he not held an air of rugged authority. That and he had the most peculiar eyes. One was a dark, deep brown and the other a vibrant green. It was both captivating and off-putting at the same time.

Xev had never seen eyes like that. But he recognized the vexed sneer on his father’s face.

“Don’t you have someone else to annoy?” Jaden asked Lilit.

She gave him a droll stare. “No. Besides, I like annoying you most of all.”

“Why?”

“Everyone else is afraid of you, brother. You need nettling so that you know you’re not perfect.”

Jaden snorted. “I know I’m not perfect. If I was, I’d have a better sister.”

Rolling her eyes, she sighed irritably. “You’re so mean. Is that why you pushed me from the egg?”

“Noir pushed you. I was the one who tried to catch you before you fell.”

“Oh…that’s right.”

“Too bad you’re not,” Jaden said under his breath. He let out a tired sigh of his own.

This was the first time in his life that Xev had actually seen his father. He only knew who Jaden was because of those mismatched eyes everyone commented on.

No one looked like Jaden.

Xev was so close to him right now that he could reach out and touch him.

Or punch him.

The latter was definitely what he really wanted to do. This was the bastard who had ruined his life. Had Jaden just kept it in his pants, Xev would never had been born.

That’s not what ruined your life.

The fact that Jaden had refused to acknowledge him was what had ruined him. Had he just taken one second to admit he had a son…

Michi might still be alive.

“You okay?” Shadow asked.

No. How selfish could someone be? He was his son. And Jaden would most likely attack him if Xev dared let the god know that he was in the same room as him.

His heart pounding, he turned to his half-brother. “Do you have a father?”

Shadow went pale. “Ah, God, I’m so sorry, Xev. I wasn’t thinking. I wanted to show you that people could live with their enemies. Jaden hates Lilit, and yet here they are.”

Jaden turned around and looked straight at the shadows where they were standing as if he could hear them.

See them.

Shadow grabbed Xev’s hand and pulled him back into the Skatos that connected everything.

“Did he see us?” Xev asked.

Shadow shook his head. “He doesn’t have the same powers you do.”

“Good.” Xev didn’t really mean that. Honestly, he wanted to zap his father where he stood. But that would only get him hurt. While he might have different powers, he wasn’t stupid enough to think he could win a fight against his father. He was still too young and too new to what he could do.

But one day…

One day, Jaden would pay for what he’d done.

Xev turned to his brother, desperate to change his life. “Will you let me live in the shadows with you?”

“The Skatos is vast. I couldn’t really stop you even if I wanted to.”

“Good.” Xev was relieved to know that this could be an option for him.

Shadow started away.

“Who’s your father?”

He stopped instantly. “What?”

Xev’s common sense told him to stay silent, but he couldn’t. He wanted to know why Shadow was doing all this. “I know you’re my brother. You look too much like our mother. Which makes me wonder who fathered you. It’s not Jaden, too, is it?”

Shadow let out a bitter laugh. “No. I’m part Na?āru.”

They were divine protectors of humans. The absolute enemies of Azura and Noir. Always had been.

“How is that even possible?”

“I’m told that Azura and my father once loved each other. Desperately. Until our aunt, Lil, seduced him in the guise of our mother to get back at both of them. Even though it was a trick Lilit used, Azura refused to forgive my father for it. She’s hated him ever since, and Lilit, too.”

“And you?”

Shadow nodded. “Nothing more than a bitter reminder to my parents of what they once shared. I’m best left to shadows. Out of sight. Out of mind.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. I don’t mind being the bane of their existence.”

Shadow might say that, but Xev heard the bitterness in his voice. He knew the pain in his own heart. No matter how much you denied it, there was always that part that wanted the love of a mother and father. It was an innate need. A hunger that nothing really filled.

“You can always call me brother.”

Suspicion clouded Shadow’s eyes. “I appreciate what you’re saying. But time has taught me not to trust intentions, no matter how pure they may seem.”

“You can trust me.”

“Famous last words. If you learn nothing else from me, little brother, it’s to never trust anyone. And I do mean anyone.”

Xev wished he could make his brother believe in him. Unlike the others, he would prove himself. Everyone needed family. Michi had taught him that.

And he would teach it to Shadow.

Shadow gave him a dark, sinister stare. “Let me give you one more piece of advice, Xev. Learn to embrace your pain. Let it feed your need to survive. Your need to prove the world wrong. You’re not what they think you are. Be more than anyone expects. Most of all, you be you.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re born of two worlds and belong to neither. Castoffs. Hated nothings. No one expects anything of us. So defy them all. I’m only a demigod, but you, Xev…you’re a full-blooded god. Learn your powers, pick a side, and let no one tell you who you are or what to believe. Be defiant.”

Be defiant. How easy Shadow made it sound. But Xev had no idea who he was.

You will.

He blinked at the sound of Shadow’s voice in his head.

With a smile, Shadow clapped him on the back. “I believe in you, kid. And until you betray me, I’ll be here for you. And after you betray me, I’ll kill you.”