Shadowface

Chapter 27

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

SUMMER

“ T hat was unnecessarily theatrical,” Lincoln says as he stands at the shadowed doorway with his arms crossed, glasses on. He’s holding his mask, his hair messy, like he just woke up from a nap or has been running his hands through it.

With his dark eyes peering through the glasses, his gaze travels down to my dress, still hitched above my legs. As our eyes meet, his pupils flare and flicker, and he effortlessly glides into the room.

The way my heart stops from that flicker and my body instantly relaxes. I want to be the one running my hands through his hair. I want to be the only one he ever looks at like that.

I smirk at Xander, who moves away from me, his arms crossed defensively, and his eyebrows rise as he observes our interaction. His body is rigid, every muscle taut, as if his insides are wound up like a tight, compressed coil.

Lincoln ignores Xander, and watches the other masked man, who now stands coolly to the side, as the two brothers face off. All of them have now removed their burlap sack masks.

Lincoln glares at the one who restrained me. “If you put your hands on Summer again, I will cut off every one of your fingers and choke you with them. And if you think I’m joking, ask Xander what I’m capable of. Summer is off limits.”

A lump forms in his throat as the guy struggles to swallow. “Look, man, I was just doing what Xander told me to do. I was just holding her down; we weren’t hurting her.”

Lincoln’s stillness is absolute, and an aura overcomes him. A subtle tilt of his head, a shift in his demeanor. Unimpeded rage oozes out of him.

He tilts his head, speaking to the ground. His eyes falter just as he raises his head and removes his glasses.

“Listen very carefully, you little fucking twat. I will end your miserable life if you ever touch her again.” My heart lurches.

Mikael.

I recognize the voice that comes out of him—so intimately. That was not Lincoln speaking. The clear transition, the clear flip, and I’m not sure anyone else noticed. But Xander flinches, and for a fleeting moment, even with the rippling tattoos on his arms, he looks petrified.

He quickly regains his composure and faces Mikael while his friend flees from the room.

I’m transfixed by Mikael, watching him smile at Xander, a slow knowing grin that makes my pulse quicken. I focus on his eyes, which aren’t translucent like they were a moment ago, or at the rave; they are now a solid brick-like color as they were when he was fucking me. When his hungry eyes find mine again, they flash.

Then, as if a switch has been flipped, he becomes still, and that same flicker appears before his eyes return to their usual hue. I’m not sure what I just witnessed, but it was the way he was acting in his office, and it makes me wonder if there are perhaps three of them inside his head.

Xander casts a glance at me as I sit up on the bed cross-legged, and I give my cockiest smirk. As if to say, See, asshole, he likes me. They all do…

Xander shakes his head and curls his lip before he takes a step toward Lincoln and slaps him on the back as he walks out the door. “I hope you enjoy your funeral, sweetheart,” he says to me as he slams the door behind him.

Lincoln turns to face me, his glasses square on his face again.

My little heart is racing—the rapid beating might kill me before he does, especially with how he’s looking at me right now. His face is so soft, and his eyebrows arch like he’s worried. Very much the way Lincoln watches me.

He hesitates for only a moment before crawling in behind me and positioning me so I’m between his legs, then lays us both back on the soft fabric of the headboard and silk pillows.

I’m shaking, I realize, and he holds me for a few minutes, allowing me to ride my high, realizing I am in the arms of the man I am in love with.

One of them, at least.

And for whatever reason, I start to cry…all my emotions building up over the past few weeks pour out of me. He just holds me; he doesn’t speak, he lets this happen before he finally says, “They’re gone, Summer. They won’t be back as long as you’re with me.” His lips graze me. “You’re safe now.”

Safe… Am I actually safe with Lincoln?

Do I want to be safe?

I turn to face him, straddling him, squeezing his toned body between my knees. My body is in a cold sweat. Now that I have him, I have no plans of letting him go.

I run my fingers through his mussed hair. A flicker hints in his eye, and I bite my lip like I want to devour him.

Because I do.

He grabs my hands and interlocks his fingers with mine, and I can feel his arousal. “You shouldn’t be here. You’re making this really hard for me.”

I secretly keep waiting for him to call me pretty girl , but he doesn’t. Which means this is all Lincoln. And that’s okay with me, because Lincoln fascinates me just as much as Mikael does.

“Making what so hard?” I ask as I grind on him.

He pulls me into his strong sexy arms and runs his hands down my legs, his hands resting on the side of my thigh. “I’m trying to avoid you, Summer. But when you come into my house, looking the way you do, it’s nearly impossible to keep my hands off you.”

My lips part as I sink my hips further into his lap. I stare deeply into those eyes, trying to find a flicker of anything. No longer are they translucent. If Mikael is here, he is hiding. Lincoln’s eyes are deep, dark, captivating, and familiar, as I’ve seen them so many times before.

“Then why did you invite me to this party? The invite showed up at our door.”

He sighs and his shoulders slump. “That wasn’t me; it must have been Xander.”

“Why would you want to avoid me?” I tease, and my lips find his ear. “You certainly weren’t avoiding me earlier today.” I grip his arms and dig my fingernails into his skin.

He rests his hands on my hips, and I kiss him. The coolness of his glasses hits my face. When I pull up, I see that flash I was looking for. The monster within isn’t too far away, and I really want to draw him out.

Lincoln arches his brows. “I’m afraid that wasn’t me, either. You must be mistaking me for someone else.” I can’t tell if he’s teasing anymore.

We’re dancing around Mikael. Always dancing around Mikael. “I’m still bleeding from that,” I tell him, grinding on him. “Want to see?”

His body jolts and he sighs before delicately moving me off his growing erection. “I really don’t want to see you dead tonight, Summer. You should probably go.”

My heart rages out of control, and I sit cross-legged on the bed and cross my arms. “I’m not leaving,” I say stubbornly. If he knows me so well, then he should know this about me.

He sighs and runs his hands through his hair, rises and pulls me to my feet, grabbing my hand. “Fine. Come on, let’s go to my room.”

I clutch him as the drugs course through my system. I really wish people would quit drugging me, but I’m getting used to it. I’m starting to enjoy it, especially if I get to play with him every time.

“Where is your room?” I ask, peering around. Since there are no personal items, this room is clearly a guest bedroom.

He tilts his head down before finally meeting me with his shadowed, emotionless eyes. “The basement.”

Of course it’s the basement.

I pause as heat fills me before a moment of panic. “How do I… How do I know it’s you, Lincoln?” Perhaps I’m not ready to draw Mikael out yet. I have too many questions for Lincoln.

He takes a step into the dimly lit hallway, and I keep myself pressed against him, not wanting to break skin to skin contact with him.

He looks both ways, the hallway empty on both sides, before he says nonchalantly, “Because you’re not dead yet.”

Is that the difference between Mikael and Lincoln? Sure death…

Silently, he guides me through the blood-red hallway and down the winding staircase. The sound of laughter filters in from the room where everyone is gathering as he leads me to yet another door. Beyond it lies a much narrower staircase, descending into what appears to be the abyss.

Something catches my eye, and I startle when I see an old woman staring back at me from the shadows of the hallway. I blink for a moment and gasp, wondering if I’m not looking at a ghost. I freeze as she steps forward and reaches for a lock of my hair, then reaches for my face.

She squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them again; her pupils dilate as she runs her fingers down my skin. “Diana, is that you?”

Lincoln grabs her hand and rubs it with his thumb, pulling her fingers off my face as I stand there stunned. “Lucy, this is Summer, Diana’s granddaughter.”

She quirks her brows in a moment of confusion, then she nods and smiles at Lincoln as if coming back into this decade. “Of course. Nice to meet you, Summer. I’m glad Lincoln found a nice girl.” She carries on through the dark hall, humming, as if that wasn’t the strangest encounter.

“That’s Lucy, our housemaid,” Lincoln says, as I flinch. “She can get a tad confused sometimes. Don’t pay her any mind.”

I follow the shadows from where she disappeared. She’s gone again as quickly as she came. “She knew my grandmother?”

He leads me down the dark stairwell into the depths of this house; the boards creaking as we head down into the abyss and a soft draft hits my face.

“Lucy’s been the housemaid for a very long time. She knew both of your grandparents, and your father as well, while he studied here.”

A s we descend into darkness, my phone vibrates in my tiny purse I’ve managed not to lose. I grab it and scroll to Dani’s message.

Dani : I just got in here, where are you?

Okay…she’s in. The rest is up to her, and she can have fun with Xander and doing whatever it is she has planned.

I quickly power off my phone as I reach the bottom step and place it back in my purse. I don’t want any distractions right now. I regret not responding to Dani, but I’m sure she will figure out soon enough who I’m with.

Lincoln pushes the door open and we step inside, and I look around. The room is a beautiful blend of antique and contemporary elements. Its soft lighting and plush carpeting make it very cozy. A modern fireplace stands alongside pillars that separate the sitting area from a desk and a large chair. The scent in the room reminds me of him, sophistication and elegance. Or perhaps it’s the candles he has lit by his desk and on a shelf above his work area.

On the other side of the partition, I glimpse his four-poster bed with those dark sheets I’ve seen during our video call. It’s the only part of the room that I’ve seen through the lens of a camera. The same one he had that girl tied up on before he killed her.

The police haven’t picked up on the thread that Cali is dead. She’s been missing for weeks, and everyone has given up on finding her.

A hint of a draft teases my bare legs and my head whips around, but there are no windows that I can see.

A sharp pang hits my stomach, and I wrap my arms around my prickled flesh, thinking of what must have been a very intimate moment between the three of them.

“I’ve lived in this basement for as long as I can remember,” Lincoln says, interrupting my train of thought as he moves and hovers over his desk, fussing with the mouse on his computer as if he’s been down here fretting over his research all night. Papers are strewn about like he was recently in deep thought and soft music plays from speakers in the ceiling.

Timeless music. Classical strings and piano.

It’s lovely and soft.

He was hiding down here, not partying with everyone else. This shouldn’t surprise me, given how hard he works every single day. His obsession with his work rivals his obsession with me.

At least I think he’s obsessed with me…

I walk over to his dresser and look around. His personal belongings are minimal—no trinkets, no photos, nothing to indicate a healthy childhood. “This was your bedroom?” I ask him.

His warm hands startle me as he wraps them around my midsection. “Ever since Dr. Garcia adopted me. But I have little recollection of anything before that. My memories began here.”

“Do you consider her your mother?” She took him in, took care of him, even adopted him, but I don’t get the motherly vibe from her.

“No. I don’t consider anyone to be my mother. Not in the way you think.”

I look up at him and blink. “Not even your real mother?”

He shakes his head. “No. Not really.” I try to find any hint of emotion in his eyes, remembering what Xander said, and I don’t push the subject.

Instead, I huff. “And Dr. Garcia put you down here in a windowless basement?” It’s not like there aren’t enough bedrooms upstairs. This house is big enough to have at least six bedrooms.

He stares down at me, and I observe and study every movement, aware of his every action. He places his hands on my hips as he walks me backward toward the bed. With a reassuring squeeze, he gently pushes me onto the soft sheets.

“She adopted me,” he says. “She’s not my mother, and I suspect at the time, she wanted Mikael far away from Xander.”

Mikael. He’s talking about him as if he’s real, as if he’s someone else entirely. And he was here first…

I peer up at him, the gaze he’s giving me right now is predatory. “And what about you?” I ask. “Why are you still down here?” I lie back on the soft bedding, propping myself up with my elbows, opening my knees to him. He drops down in front of me.

It’s a test, a tease, and I hope he bites.

A candle on the desk behind him flickers. That small draft I keep noticing, leading me to suspect this basement has an exit and entry point somewhere.

“I prefer solitude,” he tells me without looking up, giving all the attention to my legs, which I slowly wrap around him.

“But you’re never really alone, are you?” I ask.

With a gentle pull, he removes my heels and places them nearby. His eyes meet mine as his hand travels up my calf. My reflection is visible in his glasses. The glint of my white hair stands out against the darkness of this room, this house, and the dark eyes observing me.

“Why does Xander hate me so much?” I ask, although…I’m thinking the reason is deeper than I ever could have imagined. His grandmother and my grandparents were in a picture together in this very house.

“You’re a threat to his leadership and inheritance,” he says, shifting his focus to my dress and gently nudging my knees open to access what’s inside. I lean back on my elbows, wincing as his fingers brush against the mark.

“And how exactly am I threatening his leadership?”

Finally, he raises his eyes to meet mine. His pale skin and dark hair are accentuated in the soft light, but I don’t recognize the person staring back at me.

“By simply existing, Summer. Technically, you are the one who is supposed to lead us—it’s your birthright.”

I wrap my ankles around his waist and tug him closer. “So it’s all true, then? You’re part of the Order of the Shadows…the secret society that kills people?”

He blinks and that flicker arises in his irises. “Yes. Although I’m just a part of it by technicality; I’m not part of the bloodline. They kept me alive since I’m such an anomaly, and generally, they are regular people who dislike the idea of hurting a child. That was never part of the Codex.”

The Codex…

My breath deepens, and he moves his hand up and down my thigh, as if inspecting me, and he slides my panties right off my legs.

“Xander’s in quite a predicament.”

I squirm when his fingers tickle my soft skin “What do you mean?”

His lips tickle my thigh as he presses a kiss between my legs, and I quiver. “If Mikael kills you, then that means Xander doesn’t have to worry about you. But if he kills you, then that also means Mikael will be let loose, and Xander will probably end up dead, too.”

I grip the sheets so hard my fingernails nearly break off. His tongue flicks my clit, and I nearly scream.

“ Lincoln! ” My hands grip the covers, but he ignores me. He only gives a serpentine smile as he teases me with his tongue and keeps his eyes down.

Something is different about him… Something’s changed. Someone else is present…I can feel him, sense him in my soul.

Lincoln raises his flickering eyes to mine as I squirm beneath him. “Do you want me to kill you, Summer?” he asks softly, the terrifying shimmering is almost blinding. “The honey pouring out of your pussy tastes like you want me to kill you.”

A darkness fills up inside me, like starlight hitting a void as I watch him morph in front of me. Those starlight eyes mesmerize me.

“I don’t want you to kill anyone else,” I whisper, grabbing onto his hair with dear life.

His body tightens. His eyes ripples like twilight, that otherworldly shift as he morphs into a stone-cold killer. At least I think he is a killer; this version of him confuses me.

Mikael is close…so close. Like he’s here watching, but not the one in control. And it doesn’t seem like Lincoln is in control, either.

Lincoln continues to work me with his tongue, bringing me close…close…close. I dig my nails into his scalp as my orgasm starts to build, and I forget about everything. I crest and I arch my back as I let out a moan, coming down from it.

More. I want more. That wasn’t nearly enough.

“Lincoln,” I gasp.

He pauses as he lifts his brows, the bottom of his glasses teasing my clit. His pupils are so dilated they nearly take over his eyes.

“Yes, Summer?”

Xander’s words slam into me as if they didn’t matter, and now they do.

I am still unaware of the man behind those glasses, or what Lincoln is capable of, but that was a surge of emotion deep within his soul. And I can’t reconcile the duplicity of my own thoughts. I’m torn between whether I actually want him, or if he has created this desire within me.

“Is what Xander said true? That you don’t feel anything?”

His eyes swirl into everlasting darkness, his face stone cold. “It’s true. I study feelings, emotions, and the actions of humans because of them. I understand them so intimately, but no, I don’t actually feel them.”

Humans. He says the word as if he’s not one of us.

I let out a deep breath as the music shifts to a soft cello. The soft melody takes over my entire mind before I snap myself back into focus.

“You made me do things to myself I never would have done on my own. I shoved that stick so far up myself that I bled out for an hour.”

His eyes flash—not in a psychotic way, but with pure satisfaction. “We own you, Summer. We’ve owned your mind and soul since you were young…since the first day we found out you existed.”

I snarl at him, “Where is he, then? If he’s so involved in all of this, why does Mikael hide so much?” I peer deep into his eyes. “Come out and play with me, Mikael. Because, apparently, Lincoln doesn’t have feelings. ”

A flash of annoyance crosses Lincoln’s eyes, and he rises and strides over to his desk, leaving me cold.

“Be careful what you wish for, baby,” he says as he sits on his chair. “I can’t control Mikael. If he’s not here right now, it’s because he’s choosing not to be.”

I cross my arms and pull my legs, catching my breath as a fresh wave of the drugs hits me at the sudden change of tone in the room. I lay my head back on the bed. “You’re probably the most confusing person I’ve ever met.”

“That’s because I’m not really a person. Not in the sense you understand it.”

I lift my neck briefly. “What do you mean? What are you then, other than a robot?”

He pulls open his desk drawer and pulls out a bottle of pills and inspects them. “That is a very…colloquial way of describing me.” He shoves the drawer closed, stuffs the pills into his pocket, and pulls off his shirt.

I can’t take my eyes off him as he walks toward me. His muscled abs, the soft lines of his torso, his messy hair curling over his forehead. The perfection that is this man is otherworldly.

He’s a god. He’s a fucking god, that’s what he is.

He stops beside the bed, places the pills down, sits and takes off his pants and boxers. “Scientists would describe me as the gatekeeper of the system, the core, the caretaker. Some might even call me the demon. I’m a fragment; I’m all the fragments combined. I’m something scientists have never encountered, which is why Dr. Garcia took such an interest in me when I formed. I am everything that makes up this mind. I am ageless, timeless, and powerful . Mikael made me into the very image of what he fears the most.”

“Shadowface,” I whisper as I stare off at a strange shadow on the wall beside me. A cool draft hits my face and my heart rate spikes.

He killed that girl… I am in bed with a monster.

He then takes off his glasses and places them on the nightstand . “Y es, I suppose I am Shadowface in the most rudimentary sense, but Shadowface isn’t a person; he’s an entity. But I do lack one very important element. One important primal part of what it means to be human.”

“What is that?” I ask him.

He slides in beside me and helps me pull off my dress, and his body is like molten lava and I appreciate being next to him. “I lack real emotion.”

He unbuttons the clasp of my bra and helps me pull it off my shoulder as I rest my head down, enjoying the sound of his voice. His body wraps around me like a warm blanket.

My nipples harden as he reaches around and cups one. His body is so soft and secure. “I am everything Mikael isn’t, and everything he wasn’t able to be because of his trauma.”

“And what was his trauma, exactly?” I dare to ask him.

His lips meet the back of my head. “Your father tore his mother apart in front of him when he was three.”

And there it is…

My heart jolts at hearing him say it so nonchalantly. Mikael’s trauma…his trauma. “Mikael turned into the monster he is that night. He had no other choice.”

He reaches over, pulls a pill bottle out, and hands it to me. I frown as I inspect it and see the words Fluoxetine (Prozac) prescribed by Dr. Garcia.

“You take an antidepressant?” I ask him.

“It’s silly really, considering I don’t have feelings. But it’s the only thing that truly suppresses him. It’s the only thing that worked to get rid of him.”

My lips part at those words— Get rid of him.

That girl is dead…one of them slaughtered her. And I’m still not convinced it was Mikael.

I stare at the bottle, the prescription dated a week ago. Yet…it’s full.

“You don’t take it, though, do you?”

His lips tease my cheek. “I stopped taking it a couple of weeks ago.”

I blow out a breath. “What? Why would you do that, Lincoln?”

He moves his hand up to my heart. “Because when I’m with you, I can experience emotions in a way I haven’t before. For the first time in my existence, I’ve experienced emotions, even if they are his emotions. I want more of it… It makes me stronger, like I’m invincible…like I’m real . If it means letting him back to experience what it’s like to be human, I’m never giving that up. Even if it kills me.”

I’m the one killing him.

My heart is now throbbing. “And you can’t control him?”

I’ve witnessed Mikael’s presence; I’ve experienced his influence and Lincoln just said as much.

His danger and darkness.

I know too well that he is beyond control. At some point, you’d have to think Mikael never really went away. Perhaps he chose to stay away because society didn’t want him anymore. Everyone gave up on him, including the woman who raised him, and there is something poetically sad about that. After all, he was once an innocent child who lost his mother. He wasn’t born this way.

Lincoln turns the bedside lamp off, then moves his hand down to my belly and pulls me closer. It’s strange thinking of Mikael and Lincoln as separate. As if the traumatic history didn’t happen to Lincoln, too.

I turn in the dark and position myself on top of him, and it takes no effort for him to fill me.

“Summer, fuck,” he whispers as my thighs clench around him. I want to show him he’s not alone. Show him his trauma, even if he won’t admit it, doesn’t have to define him. I want to fuck the daylights out of him.

I grind and squeeze, our limbs become tangled as if we are one. I lean over him, his mouth finds the tiny muscle above my collarbone and his teeth graze my skin. I can’t see his eyes right now, but I know they would look like a vortex. Even if he wanted to kill me right now, I’m fucking him so hard, I don’t give him a chance.

Eventually, his teeth do more than graze. He bites down and I cry out as we both climax. I roll off him, out of breath and satisfied.

He’s quiet for a moment, as if pondering my earlier question if he can control Mikael, his hands not nearly done touching me. “Out of all the things I am to this body, do you know what I am first?”

I turn to face him completely, my eyes widening in anticipation as our breaths mingle. The room is softly illuminated by the flickering light of the candle still burning.

“What?” I whisper just as a soft wisp of air blows the candle out, leaving us shrouded in darkness.

He pushes himself on top of me, still hard despite his cum on the sheets. “I am your protector,” he murmurs. “I was created to protect you, Summer. I won’t let him kill you. I refuse to let history repeat itself.”

He fucks me three more times before I pass out, further demonstrating his godlike abilities.