Chapter 23 – Shade
SHADE
We’d washed quickly in the lake after our second round, and the gargoyles had helped to clean me gently before we’d all dressed. They said little, but their gazes and soft touches said more than words ever could.
Our time together wasn’t meaningless to them either.
I teleported back to the castle, smoothing down my hair and gown, then moved down the stairs. I hoped that none of the vampires would see the glow of desire on my flesh.
But whether they do or not, it doesn’t seem to matter. Lord Drac takes my arm in an instant and leads me to the dance floor. I take his hand and try to pretend for just a little while that I’m not more confused than I’ve ever been in my short life.
The dining hall is decorated in gold and silver. Lord Drac spins me about the dance floor, and the other vampires pull back to form a circle around us. I can see the expression of those who look at me. Some, I recognize now as looks of desire. Others? Hatred. And the remaining few? Caution.
I wonder why they care so much about me or Lord Drac’s interest in me. The thought almost makes me stop right there on the dance floor, but I only stumble and keep going.
Something has changed inside of me. I’m understanding more and more about the world I live in, and I’m not sure I like this feeling, this sense of being able to look at others and see the hidden agendas behind their eyes.
When we stop dancing, everyone claps.
Lord Drac holds me in his arms longer, and I finally, reluctantly, look up to meet his gaze.
His dark eyes peer down at me, and again, I now know it’s lust that I see. “You’re so beautiful, Shade.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, not knowing what else to say.
“There’s so much that I want, and so little time.”
“Time?” I repeat.
He nods, and his grip tightens around me. “There is a creature that must die tonight. Two creatures, actually.”
I search within myself and stagger, but Lord Drac keeps me standing upright. I feel the pull toward a dozen different beings deserving of painful afterlives in the Underworld. I also sense three of those lives being snuffed out, nearly as fast I can sense them…the other shades hard at work.
“Who?” I ask, softly.
“Do you sense a boy who has nearly become a man? He just killed his parents, not far from here.”
I search within myself. “Yes, I feel him.”
“Kill him and come back. I have another surprise for you.”
I step out of Lord Drac’s arms. I haven’t forgotten that I need to help the gargoyles, but now that I’m aware, I can’t forget. My job isn’t a pleasant one, but someone has to do it.
Teleporting away, I appear in the bedroom.
The blinds are drawn closed. A lamp is knocked over in one corner, and a teen boy sits on his parents’ bed, his face in his hands.
The sound of him crying fills my ears, but my gaze is drawn to the gun in his lap, and to the two bodies that lay sprawled on the floor.
‘You killed your own parents,” I say, a crime definitely worthy of a lifetime of being tortured in the Underworld.
He looks up at me with big blue eyes filled with tears. “Just do it. We both know why you’re here.”
I take a step toward him, but that change inside of me, the one that sees little things in people that I hadn’t seen before, makes me hesitate. Something feels wrong about this. The pulling can only mean he deserves to have his life taken, both this life and his after life, so why do I hesitate?
“How do you know why I’m here?”
“Lord Drac,” he says, simply.
I stiffen. He knows the vampire leader? “How do you know him?”
“He wanted my sister and I as his blood slaves.” Big tears roll down his face. “And I said no.”
Blood slaves? I think back to all the humans in the castle. They were there by choice, right? My mind goes over their faces when they were being fed on. Not all looked…happy.
Was I a fool to believe Lord Drac?
“Why did you kill your parents?”
He looks at me like I’m stupid. “Because he said he’d kill all of us if I didn’t. My parents said it was the only way.”
I feel sick. “You didn’t want to kill them?”
Instead of answering, he begins to sob.
Something strange happens then. A rage that I don’t understand builds inside of my belly. Is this a game to Lord Drac? Is he just testing the limits of what I’ll do?
Cerberus said there was nothing more important than my freedom. I thought I had it…but maybe I don’t. Maybe I truly did trade one master for another.
But knowing that doesn’t help this boy or this situation now.
Suddenly, another shade teleports beside me. She sneers as she looks at the boy and reaches toward him.
I’m between her and him in an instant. “No.”
She draws back in shock. “What are you doing here? I was sent to retrieve this… Wait a minute. You’re that shade rebel, aren’t you?”
I stare back at her. “This soul is not for you.”
“I was sent to take him, and I will.” There’s ice in her voice.
“I won’t allow it.”
Her face cracks into a cruel smile. “Do you really think a creature softened by earth can defeat me?” She laughs.
I grab her wrist and teleport. Her eyes are wide as I appear over the ocean. I release her and see her drop into the water just seconds before I teleport back to the boy’s room.
“Go hide with your sister,” I command him.
“That won’t keep me safe,” he says.
“Shades will not take souls with witnesses uninvolved with the crime.”
He gives me a strange look, but obeys.
This time when I teleport, I have a plan. A crazy plan that I’m not sure will work.
Appearing in the cold, dark tunnels of the Underworld, I shiver, fighting the instinct to be free of the dark. I move to the opening, knowing that stepping onto the banks of the river will put me in danger. That I won’t be able to teleport to safety.
Moving to the very edge, I look out at the banks and scan the crowd of souls waiting to board the ferry man’s boat.
It takes too long to spot the boy’s parents, but I do.
As two good people, they hold coins to the other side.
Unlike old legends, the dead’s family no longer has to place coins on their eyes for passage; they need only be good souls.
Creeping out of the safety of the tunnels, I go to his parents and take their wrists, knowing that there’s a chance this will work, because they haven’t crossed the river, and because they just died.
The souls look confused as I try to lead them away.
They seem to drag their transparent feet, looking between the river and me.
“Your children still need you,” I whisper.
Suddenly, their feet don’t drag any longer. They step into the tunnels, and this time, I do something I’ve never done before. I teleport souls back into the world of the living. In the boy’s house once more, I lead the souls to the bodies on the floor.
“If you go back, there will be pain and suffering,” I say. “So it’s your choice.”
And your window is rapidly closing.
The souls move from me, back into their bodies, and I hold my breath, hoping I wasn’t too late. Wondering what will happen to their souls if I was.
I watch their eyes flash open, and pain fills their gazes.
Kneeling in their blood, I touch their throats.
I twist my ability to heal myself and press it out.
A connection formed between them as traces from the Underworld still cling to them.
I feel their bodies working to heal themselves at a faster pace.
It’s all I can do.
Suddenly, I hear a feminine voice whisper, “Mom? Dad?”
I turn back to see the boy and girl standing in the doorway. “They yet live.”
The boy is suddenly dialing his phone, yelling into it, and I rise. I have no doubts that the human parents will have a difficult recovery, but they’ll live. And from the way they look at their children, I also know that they love their children, even after what Lord Drac made them do.
“You’re all going to be safe now,” I tell them.
Because I’ve made a choice. Not only will I help the gargoyles gain their freedom, but I’m going to help them destroy Lord Drac and the other vampires too. Anyone with this little regard for life is dangerous in every way, and I’ll do all I can to stop them.
Even if it means leaving the only home I have…because I refuse to make my home a place of suffering and cruelty.
Except…when I make Lord Drac and the vampires suffer.