Chapter 1

Shadow of Death

Blood Bound Series Book 8

Amy Blankenship, RK Melton

Copyright © 2012 Amy Blankenship

Second Edition Published by TekTime

All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Chad and Trevor were currently participating in the battle of the century, one that only few could survive and walk away without serious injury… a glaring contest.

Finally Chad gave in and blinked his eyes, “I told you Trevor, there’s nothing wrong with me. Trust me, if I had any supernatural powers I would use them on you right now. Even Ren says I’m still completely human and I don’t have any side effects.”

Chad looked away from Trevor and set his gaze on Ren, “Come on, back me up on this.”

Ren shrugged but ignored Trevor knowing it would be Storm's decision whether Chad was off the hook or not. “I don’t feel any kind of power coming from him… zilch. He’s still human as far as I can tell. Kriss said that he might heal faster than normal… at least for a while.”

“So we don’t know if his resurrection is permanent?” Storm asked enjoying the comic relief of Chad and Trevor's argument. It was amazing at the things that seemed to entertain him lately.

Ren shook his head playing along with Storm’s train of thought, “It’s really hard to say. The only way we’ll know for sure is if he’s killed again and comes back to life.”

Chad took a step back from the group and held his hand up, “Don’t even think about it. I’m not a lab rat and I kind of like the fact that I’m breathing.”

Storm’s lips twitched but he held it in for Chad’s sake. “Then we can safely assume he isn’t going to sprout wings and fly off.” He lost the little war with the suppressed smile when Chad looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“Please tell me your joking,” Chad stared at him hard because when Storm said something like that most people took it seriously.

Deciding not to answer that question, Storm turned his attention to Trevor who was also giving him an odd look. “I see no reason why Chad has to stay at the castle if he doesn’t like it here. Have any clues turned up yet on why he was targeted in the first place?”

“NO, and I’ve had wolves watching and going over his apartment every day but the murderer hasn’t shown his cowardly face,” Trevor answered. “The wolves would have smelled a demon if it were still sneaking around. But still, I don’t think he needs to go back there. It’s obviously not a safe place.”

“Will you stop talking about me like I’m not standing right here? I’m a grown man and can take care of myself,” Chad narrowed his eyes on Trevor. “You can’t still be planning revenge for my death when I’m not dead.”

“You were dead,” Trevor shot back. The two men squared off in another staring contest.

“Let’s make a deal,” Storm laughed at his own private joke. “Micah and Titus, along with most of the pack are living at Night Light. There’s a lot of extra room in that huge club and, you already work with most of them at the station anyway. If you don’t want to stay here, then why don’t you agree to live there with the wolf pack?”

“Sounds good to me,” Trevor said confidently. “It’s not as safe as living here at the castle, but it’s a step up from living someplace where a murderer can just walk in and kill you.”

“Who died and made you the boss of me?” Chad nearly yelled at Trevor.

“You did dummy,” Trevor smirked at how easy that one comeback was.

Chad frowned at the thought of going from lab rat to stray puppy. “What gave you the idea they would even want me there?”

“Your sister,” Trevor sighed dramatically, using his trump card for all it was worth. “Actually, Envy threatened to burn down your apartment if she caught wind of you ever going back there to live alone.”

“What?” Chad made a face at his partner, “You’re making this up as you go… aren’t you?”

“Envy didn’t think you would like to live with her because of all the action going on at Moon Dance right now. It’s been hectic over there since they started getting ready for their annual Halloween bash and renovating the place at the same time. So, they all got together and talked about it… and since Night Light is shut down for the time being, it’s kind of become the main hang out for all of the cops. They figured you’d feel right at home.”

Chad resisted the urge to growl at the three men who seemed to be ganging up on him. He was starting to feel like he was being babysat, but at this point he was willing to do just about anything to get away from the castle. He’d swear they’d put him under a microscope if he agreed to it… it was a weird feeling to say the least. He was the only human living in this castle yet he was the one being treated like the freak.

“Come on Trevor, I’m sure Evey is bored. She can give us a ride to see Envy and while I’m having a chat with my sister… maybe you can introduce Devon to your very interesting car,” Chad said with a glare then strode out of the office.

Trevor watched him go before looking over at Ren, “You know… if Evey hadn't grown on me, I’d be extremely pissed at you right now.”

Ren smirked, “Just be good to her. She loves you.” He laughed when Trevor rolled his eyes and followed Chad out the door.

***** Angelica looked down into the entrance of the subway then up at the sun knowing she was going to miss it due to the fact that she was getting ready to go underground. She’d needed to get away from the castle… to be alone for a little while and actually work. Syn had been very helpful as a partner for the last week… but for her own sake she needed a little bit of separation right now.

While she had to admit that she enjoyed Syn’s attentions, when she’d woken up earlier and he wasn’t there, she’d started looking for him. It was a bit of a wakeup call… she’d never looked for anyone like that in her life and here she was… craving him.

She was high strung enough as it was with all the sexual tension sizzling between them… the last thing she needed was for it to be her fault that she started depending on him for company. To make matters worse, she’d had another dream right before leaving the castle. She shouldn’t have let it bother her, but since it was only the third dream she’d ever had in her life… it bothered the hell out of her.

The other two dreams had been nightmares about a creepy little demon girl and a city of blood… but not this one. She’d been making love… it was as if she’d opened her eyes in the middle of the dream to find herself laying under a man on a bed of moss and looking out at a waterfall that emptied into a lagoon only inches away from her.

Turning her head to see the man deep inside her… she’d locked eyes with Syn and jerked herself from the dream.

Unable to completely deal with how the dream had made her feel, she’d gone to Ren’s office and searched his maps, picking the hottest spot of demon activity. She’d also packed an overnight bag with every intention of getting a hotel room for the night and snuck out of the castle with no one being the wiser. Just for one night… to remind herself that she would be just fine alone.

Glancing over her shoulder one more time to make sure she wasn’t being followed, Angelica started down the steps into the subways that ran under LA. This was one of the places she had avoided so far due to the fact that anything could be down here ready to pounce. But Ren had marked this area on the map as a hot spot and as far as she could tell, it wasn’t coming from the street. That left one other place it could be… underground.

She frowned when she saw a large man coming up the stairs toward her and moved a little closer to the wall to avoid him. However, the man must have been in a foul mood because he purposely bumped into her, almost causing her to lose her footing and fall the rest of the way down the steps. The people walking by didn’t seem to notice and her frown deepened when one of the subway cops approached her.

“Are you all right Miss?” the officer asked wondering if she was high. “I saw you stumble and almost fall… do you need any help?”

Angelica’s frown deepened and she looked back up the steps at the large man that had bumped into her. No one seemed to see him, yet people walked around him as though he were there.

“No,” she said softly, “I’m fine.”

The officer nodded and kept going but Angelica narrowed her eyes before looking back down into the dimly lit station. Syn had taught her how to hide her own energy so whatever she was tracking wouldn’t know she was coming. Considering an invisible demon had just plowed into her and kept going… it seemed to be working just fine.

She frowned again wondering why she had the gift of seeing the grumpy demon plain as day when other humans couldn’t. Deciding to deal with her identity crisis later, Angelica readjusted the strap of her overnight bag on her shoulder and continued on down toward the strongest source of demon activity.

Michael had been taking a walk through town making up his mind about what to do for the Moon Light Masquerade. He thought briefly about dressing up in costume but it didn’t really appeal to him. Finally, he decided the best thing to do was to purchase a mask from The Witch’s Brew, dust off his finest clothes he still had from the seventeenth century, and go as himself.

He’d just turned the corner when he saw Angelica standing at the entrance of the subway station looking down into it without Syn at her side. He watched as she looked up at the bright sky wishfully then descended down the steps into the dim interior.

With his interest peaked, Michael followed her discretely down the stairs. He didn’t fear getting caught because the stairwell was full of people between them… he could quickly pull the shadows around him and hide from her if she turned around. Michael smirked wishing he’d known this trick when he was a child.

His eyes narrowed when he saw a large man purposely push Angelica against the wall and keep going. He was surprised by the instant rage he felt. Taking a deep, calming breath, Michael kept walking and blatantly put himself in the man’s path. When the big man was in front of him, they both stopped and stared at each other. He suddenly had a flashback of something he’d once seen Damon do to a demon that had pissed him off.

“Where’s the fire?” Michael asked with a cold smile.

The big man’s lips parted, showing a mouthful of rotting teeth that made Michael almost sick. His hand flashed out and he palmed the center of the demon’s chest… not hurting him, just simply touching him. He smirked seeing the demon’s confusion.

“Ever heard of spontaneous combustion?” Michael asked curiously before pulling his hand away. “If not, you’re getting ready to have a crash course on it.”

Michael stepped back and quickly flickered out of sight when the demon looked down at his chest then screamed in agony. People around the man started yelling and running when his clothing began to smoke. Within seconds, all visible skin turned red before blistering and burning away like cinders in a campfire.

Angelica paused and looked back around the corner of the stairwell when she heard the man start screaming and wondered what the hell had happened. He had been a demon, she knew that much, but who had attacked him in such a painful manner? Angelica cocked an eyebrow actually wishing she’d thought of it first then sighed figuring it was probably another demon attacking it.

Shrugging her shoulders, she continued down the steps and smirked when she heard the unmistakable cracking of bones as they burned. Storm had been right when he’d said most of the demons would destroy each other. Angelica quickly moved out of the way when several subway security officers took off up the stairs to find out what had people in such a panic.

Michael wrapped the shadows around him and traced to the bottom of the stairs, staying out of sight as Angelica emerged. She walked right by him and he suppressed a smirk. He didn’t know what she was doing down here alone but he was actually having a little bit of fun following his mother around.

He knew Angelica didn’t remember him, but his own memories of her were crystal clear… even her name was the same. It was because of her that he’d never found a woman to love… no one compared to the way she had loved not only him, but the temperamental Damon as well.

He’d spent so long thinking the only form of true love was the love a mother had for her children. It wasn’t until recently that the people around him had caused him to start second guessing that theory.

Angelica stood on the platform watching the people intermingle and go about their lives. Seeing a small boy peek around his mother at her and smile reminded her of what Syn had done at the hospital. She smiled back at the boy wishing she had the power to give him a demon repellant since his mother had unknowingly brought him down into this tunnel with a bunch of them.

She cringed realizing her thoughts had just went full circle… right back to Syn. Feeling a little reckless, she approached the guardrail that kept people from falling down onto the tracks and leaned over it a little bit, looking one way and then the other. Turning to the left, she followed the railing to the end of the massive room and leaned over it again to take a closer look into the tunnel.

All she saw was darkness broken by bits of light from the dim fluorescents that served to illuminate only a few feet around them. They were spread too far apart to be any real help. It was no secret that she hated tunnels and darkness. Right now she was actually wishing Zachary were here with her. With a wave of his hand, he could brighten up anything he wanted with a suspended flame.

When he’d first summoned the small flames in front of her just to show off, she’d called him her little fire fly for weeks. She smiled at the memory. At least Zachary could have provided some entertainment and he was a hell of a lot safer to team up with than a certain Sun God that made her want to press her thighs together in frustration.

Unzipping her shoulder bag, Angelica removed a palm sized crystal orb that she’d acquired from the castle’s private arsenal and hopped down onto the maintenance walkway leading through the tunnel.

She didn’t look back at the platform… if she had, she would have seen Michael slip into the darkness following silently behind her.

Michael continued to track Angelica’s movements through the tunnel and turned his face away when one of the subway trains went flying by him back toward the platform. The draft it created made his hair and clothing whip around him but with it also came the scent of demons… a lot of them.

When he glanced down the tunnel again, he saw Angelica pause and look behind her. As he stepped into the shadows he frowned wishing she wasn’t a part of PIT. No good son would like the fact that his mother’s job was this dangerous.

Hearing what sounded like scratching underneath him, Michael stopped and leaned over the railing seeing the dark edges of a narrow passage exposed just under the concrete he was standing on. His eyes narrowed wondering what kind of monsters were down there.

Glancing back up the tunnel, Michael hissed not seeing Angelica. With all the hatch and maintenance doors, not counting the fact that there were sub tunnels under this one, he would have to figure out which way she had gone.

Speeding up his movement, he became little more than a blur, slowing down when he came to a cross section that broke off in four different directions.

“Syn,” Michael whispered not liking the odds.

He felt Syn brush against his mind letting him know that Angelica was all right and in good hands. He wasn’t about to ask his father any questions about that and almost wondered how Syn knew he was there. It would have been a stupid question… Syn always knew where his children were.

Michael looked to the far left, sensing his father’s aura down the darkest tunnel and felt relief knowing his mother was safe. Feeling the vibration of another train coming, he leaned back against the wall and stared straight into the long train as it passed.

Sharpening his sight, he caught the quick images of people in their seats then noticed something else. As each separate car went past… there was a lapse between them to where he could see the other side of the double track. Standing there staring back at him was a woman with long platinum blond hair blowing around her from the wind coming off the train.

Michael no longer cared about the passengers as he focused only on her. She was dressed in an oversized white shirt that fluttered from the pressure of the air. He noted the top four buttons were undone and dangerously close to exposing more than just her flawless cleavage.

He lowered his gaze to see her shirt came to mid-thigh along with the edges of a black pleated skirt that was covering maybe two inches more than the shirt was. The bottom of the cloth was followed by long shapely legs. Slowly raising his gaze back to her face, Michael wondered if she had enthralled him. Even dressed like a street rat, she was the loveliest thing he had ever seen.

Aurora had been caught off guard when she’d felt the power near her skyrocket and crept out of her hiding place. She readied herself for a fight thinking maybe one of the master demons had caught her scent and was closing in on her. She was tired of running from the powerful ones… she’d been running from them since escaping Samuel and coming through the rift.

She wasn’t a coward though… she’d killed most of the demons she’d come across, but there were those that actually frightened her so she’d spent an equal amount of time trying to stay one step ahead of them. She knew what would happen if she was captured by the wrong demon… Samuel had taught her that lesson the hard way.

Zeroing in on the soul in front of her now, she felt confusion having nothing to compare it with. The soul wasn’t human… nor was it demon. It was more akin to staring into the sun. Her lips parted as she drew her gaze away from the soul and looked at the man with strange amethyst eyes in wonder.

Michael gripped the guardrail ready to leap over it as the end of the train came closer. No matter what she was… she appeared lost and alone and she was staring at him as if he were her savoir.

Aurora inhaled sharply when he was suddenly inches in front of her but she still didn’t feel the need to run or fight as she did with the demons. She slowly raised her gaze, pausing at his perfect lips before staring up into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen.

“You shouldn’t be down here… it’s dangerous,” Michael warned fighting his instinct to reach for her… to save her from whatever she feared.

Aurora’s eyes lowered right back to his lips as he talked and she took a step closer. “Are you real?” she raised her hand wanting touch his face but hesitated. “Can I touch you?”

“I wish you would,” Michael breathed as every emotion within him strained to shatter. The second her soft fingertips touched his cheek, one emotion broke free of the rest… want. Dipping his head, he captured her lips in desperation.