He follows us up a short staircase and down an aisle between two bookcases. We emerge into a small reading nook, complete with two chairs and a coffee table. Jax immediately flops down in one of the seats, draping his right leg over the arm and leaning back against the other side. I sit in the other chair, while Kateri takes up station behind me. Jax leans forward, picks up a book off the table and starts flipping through the pages.
“Jax,” I say. He looks up at me, his eyebrows raised.
“Oh sorry. Didn't know if you were having another mental conversation about me.”
“Oh, come on,” Kateri says, clearly reaching her limit.
“Are you going to be serious about this, or are we wasting our time?” I ask.
“Or maybe we should just waste you.” Kateri stares at him, no humor in her tone or expression.
“What do you want to know?” he asks.
“First off, why are you so willing to help us?”
“I haven't actually said I'm going to help you ... yet. I think I said I'd go somewhere and talk.”
“Fine. Are you willing to help us?”
“I need to know what you're doing here before I say yes.”
“Well, that's the problem. If we tell you and you decide not to help us, we'll have to ...”
“Kill you,” Kateri says, finishing my sentence with a tone that indicates that she would have no problem doing just that.
Jax scratches under his chin with those long nails and then tilts his head to the side.
“That's quite a quandary,” he says, shifting his position and sitting up straight, his feet planted firmly on the ground. “Guess I need to hear you out, because if I say no now, you'll probably have to kill me anyway.”
He looks at Kateri, locking eyes with her for a moment before turning his gaze on me.
E ~ What do you think?
K ~ It's on you.
“I don't even know where to start,” I admit.
“Start from the start,” Jax replies as he leans back in his chair again, resuming his casual position.
“So, I guess you've figured out we're Shayds,” I say.
“Or something not exactly like that,” he quickly adds before winking at me.
“Right. Anyway. You know what we do.”
“Protect the human world from the evil of the Abyss.”
“Right,” I say, looking back at Kateri for a moment.
“I've heard about Shayds.”
“Okay. So, we've noticed a lot more activity lately, more breaches into the Umbra, and even stories about humans and Shayds being kidnapped and dragged to the Abyss.”
Jax nods silently. “I've heard that,” he confirms.
“We think that someone here is trying to come up with a way to bypass the Umbra and attack the Human world directly.”
“You’re talking about Sirix.”
“Sirix?” I ask.
“I think that’s probably who you’re looking for,” Jax says.
“Why are you sharing this with us?” Kateri asks, leaning forward.
“In direct opposition to what you think about us, we’re not all monsters. There are some of us who would like a peace between our people.”
“A peace-loving demon?” Kateri scoffs.
“You can think what you want,” Jax replies, frowning at her. “I’m not wasting time trying to convince you.”
“While I’m not doubting what you’re saying about wanting peace, you have to admit it seems strange to run into a Demon who seems so…”
“Handsome? Charming? Hilarious?”
“I was going to say helpful, but your answers work as well. Put yourself in our place.”
Jax looks away for a second, as if he’s contemplating my comment.
“Okay. I do understand how you feel. So, what can I do to convince you?”
“You said there are others, like you.”
“Yes.”
“Then help us find our friend. Reach out to them. Find out if anyone has seen a Shayd girl.”
“What does she look like?” he asks and then he shakes his head. “Never mind. Doesn’t matter. She’s a Shayd.”
He gets to his feet, pulls a phone out of his pocket and swipes the screen a few times before lifting it to his ear.
“Cell phones too. Who knew?” I say, looking over at Kateri.
“Probably stolen,” she says.
“Yours are all stolen,” I shoot back.
She just frowns at me and turns her attention back to Jax. He seems to be texting someone, and even with his long nails, he’s nearly as fast as I am.
“Well?” Kateri asks, clearly annoyed that we’ve waited a whole minute and a half.
Jax holds up a finger and I look at Kateri. I can hear her growl under her breath, but I can’t help but smile.
“Come on. This is pointless,” she says, starting to head to the stairs after another thirty seconds or so.
“Just wait,” I reply.
“Okay. Got it,” Jax says, looking at us.
“Got what?”
“Your friend. I know where she is.”
“Where?” I ask.
Kateri walks up beside me, staring at Jax.
“She’s with some of my friends,” he replies.
“They better not hurt her,” Kateri says, locking eyes with him.
“I said they’re friends,” he shoots back.
“Well, let’s go get her,” I say.
“Follow me.”
As soon as we’re outside, Jax stops and looks at us. “It’s not close. Are you okay to stream there?” he asks, looking at me.
“I’m good. Where are we heading?”
“You know the Heinz Memorial Chapel?”
“Sure.”
“Then meet me there.”
“Okay. Thanks, Jax.”
“You’re welcome,” he says before looking over at Kateri. “You too.”
She just rolls her eyes.
“Oh yeah. Don’t go in until I get there,” Jax says before stepping into the dark alley beside the bookstore and vanishing.
“Are we seriously going there?” Kateri asks.
“Yes, we are, or at least I am.”
“This could be a trap.”
“You think everything’s a trap,” I say.
“And someday I’m going to be right,” she replies.
I reach out and take her hand, squeezing her fingers gently.
“We’ll be careful, okay?”
“Do you really trust him?”
“For now,” I reply.
After a moment, she shakes her head and frowns.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
We slip into the alley, find a shadow and reappear on top of the old building. Kateri looks over at me as we walk toward the edge of the roof.
“I trust you. If you think Jax can help, then I’m with you.”
“Thanks,” I reply before leaning over and placing a soft kiss on her cheek.
She slides her hand up and down my arm, sending a cascade of goose-bumps rippling across my skin.
“Now, do you know how to get to the chapel?” she asks.
“I thought you did.”
“Shit.”
“Wait, isn’t it across the street from the Carnegie Art Museum?” I ask while trying to remember if I ever saw it on the many trips that my mom and I had made to the gallery.
“You’re asking me?”
“I think it is. Come on.”
I take her hand again, holding it firmly and we leap into the shadows. I love the sensation of holding Kateri’s hand as we move across the city. I feel her hand tighten when we leap off the roof of a ten-story building and momentarily relax when we touch down on the balcony of a high-rise apartment tower.
As we get closer to the chapel, the less shadows are available for streaming. We’re forced to drop down to the crowded sidewalks. At least here though, we don’t have to dodge and dart around the hundreds of pedestrians, we can simply walk right through them like
they’re made of air. It’s a little disconcerting at first, but you sort of get used to it. Still, we don’t spot any demons amongst the crowds, and their absence is starting to concern me.
“Well, that’s it,” Kateri says, gesturing toward the open garden-like courtyard that surrounds the small, but impressive gothic church.
We’re standing on the steps of the Carnegie Museum, across the street from the church. Traffic is heavy on the four-lane road in front of the building, but we dart across the street, unconcerned with the vehicles, as they pass through us like phantoms. When we reach the park on the other side, we quickly fade into the shadows cast by the trees and stream our way to the front of the chapel. We didn’t really need to, but why make ourselves an easier target if someone is watching?
I study the front of the small, but impressive church for a few moments.
“You see Jax anywhere?” I ask.
“No.”
“Are we supposed to wait for him?”
“You’re asking me?” Kateri replies, a disapproving look on her face.
I just sigh and shake my head. “Come on.”
We start toward the front doors when Jax materializes out of the darkness near the corner of the building.
“It took you long enough,” he says, smirking at us.
“Can we just get on with this?” Kateri asks.
“You’re not much fun, are you?” Jax replies with a tilt of his head.
Kateri just grumbles something unintelligible under her breath.
“So, I’m not going to ask for your weapons—”
“Good,” Kateri interjects, interrupting him.
“Kateri, please.”
She looks at me, and now I become the target of her displeasure.
“As I was saying, I’m not going to ask for your weapons out of respect, but I need your word that you won’t do anything stupid in there.”
“You have it,” I reply.
Jax looks at Kateri and she just grunts her agreement.
“I suppose that’ll have to do,” he says. “Follow me.”
We head around the side of the church, moving beneath the towering stained-glass windows. A small set of steps leads down to a basement side door covered by a marble and stone overhang. Jax descends the steps and we join him on the small landing. The tiny alcove is filled with little bits of trash and dead leaves, while spider webs adorn the rough, stone and mortar walls. A heavy wooden door reinforced with iron strapping makes for a daunting barrier.
“Of course, we’re sneaking in the side door,” Kateri mumbles.
“We go in the side door at home,” I reply, annoyed with her continued snarkiness.
“Are you ready for this?” Jax asks.
“We’re ready.”
Jax reaches for the dark, metal handle, but when his long, nimble fingers touch the surface, they simply pass through the barrier. He turns and looks at me, a calm and serene expression on his face.
“Take my hand,” he says.
“Hold on,” I say. “How are we going to get out of there?”
I move to lean on the stonework bordering the door and almost stumble forward when my whole hand and part of my forearm passes through the wall. Kateri pulls me back and Jax stares at me for a moment, his mouthful of pointy teeth hanging open.
“You all right?” she asks.
“I’m good,” I say, gently patting her arm.
“Well, I guess we have our answer, ‘not-exactly Shayd,’” Jax says, clearly both dumbfounded and impressed.
Kateri edges behind me and touches the same spot where my hand vanished through the wall, but nothing happens. She taps the cold, hard stone and then looks at me, a smirk on her face.
“Well, aren’t we just full of surprises.”
I take her hand, squeezing her fingers gently.
K ~ Be careful, okay?
E ~ I will. Behave, okay?
K ~ We’ll see.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Walking through the wall is an odd sensation. It’s not quite the same as when the cars on the street, or the people on the sidewalk move through you; that’s like a breeze on your skin. I swear I can feel myself passing through the foundations of the church. It’s almost like if you pushed your hand through a bowl of thick pudding, except in this case, the pudding is made of stone, metal, and wood. I pull Kateri through the wall and we’re suddenly in enemy territory. I just hope Jax is telling the truth about his ‘friends’.
“Okay, that was freaky,” she says looking back at the wall.
I would answer, but I’m too busy staring at the scene in front of me. This is not the basement of a gothic cathedral, or at least any that I’ve ever seen, or even pictured in my mind. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but as with everything else in the Abyss, the reality surpasses anything I could have imagined. The place looks like a low budget version of the Factory, with single bulbs hanging from the ceiling in place of fluorescent lights, slightly out of date computers and operators with wired headphones instead of wireless Bluetooth units. Cables of all kinds run across the floor, hang down from the uncompleted drop ceiling, and crisscross the mismatched desks.
As soon as we appear in the basement, everything around us grinds to a halt, and hundreds of yellow, green, and red eyes are upon us. I find myself desperately looking anywhere but at demons faces that are all turned in our direction.
K ~ I don’t like this.
E ~ Me either, just stay calm.
“Everybody get back to work,” Jax commands, and slowly, everyone turns their attention back to their screens, papers, or whatever else they were occupied with.
“Are you in charge here?” I ask him.
Jax looks at me and shakes his head while giving me that disconcerting smile of his.
“No. They just tend to listen to me.”
We weave our way through the maze of desks and cables, trying to blend in as much as possible, but it’s a futile effort. The variety of demons is astounding. Some are like Jax, almost human-like, while others are more what you might picture in your mind; leathery red skin, hooves and horns sticking out of their heads, very Hellboyish. Some are closer to animal than human, like the one that I killed in my house so long ago, but many of them seem more like security guards than workers as they sit silently watching us.
We pass under a stone arch and into a large room with a huge flat map of the earth laid out on a massive central table; their version of the rotating globe back home. Tiny figures are placed across the surface while technicians push them around with paddles on the end of pool cues. It’s like a scene out of a WWII movie, except for the demons of course.
K ~ Shit.
E ~ You can say that again.
I rest my hand on the pommel of my sword.
K ~ I thought you said stay calm.
E ~ I am calm.
There’s no way to know if the figures represent Demon attacks upon the Human world, or conflicts between Shayds and Demons, but either way it chills me to the bone. Jax says nothing as we pass through the room, turning to the right and heading down a narrow corridor. I look to the left, making a mental note about the heavy metal door and posted sentries a few yards further on. A couple of Demons dressed in medical garb slip past us, most of them giving us little more than a furtive glance. We stop at the end of the corridor in front of a set of swinging wooden doors. The word Infirmary on a small placard mounted to the wall sets off alarms in my head.
“Wait here for a moment,” Jax says before slipping through the doors.
I tap my fingers on the leather wrapped handle of my sword while we wait. I can sense the tension in the air as we stand in the dimly lit corridor. Kateri shuffles back and forth, her boots scraping on the rough stone floor. The doors open and a short, black skinned demon wearing hospital scrubs appears, looks at us for a moment and then moves on.
“I can’t take this,” Kateri says between clenched teeth.
“I know,” I reply, sighing deeply and trying t
o calm myself.
The doors open again and Jax sticks his head out.
“Okay. Come on,” he says.
We slip inside, and I immediately get an overwhelming sense of sadness as I take in the room. Dozens of white linen covered beds line the walls, and the ‘bleep-bleep’ of a myriad of medical monitors and other devices fills the air. Virtually every bed is occupied with a patient of some sort, each one with various injuries from bandaged heads, absent limbs and some even worse injuries that I can’t even bare to glance at. I don’t want to feel sorry for them, they’re demons after all, but I can’t help it. This is the cost of our battle against the darkness, and it makes me sick.
K ~ Oh God.
E ~ I know.
K ~ I don’t want to see this.
E ~ Me either.
Jax hasn’t said a word since we entered. He just keeps leading us further in. I try and keep my eyes fixed on his back, trying to ignore the suffering around me, but it invades my periphery and seeps into my mind. Suddenly, Jax stops and I have to pull up short to avoid colliding with him. When I look past him, I spot Reeva sitting up on one of the beds. She has a black eye and a heavily bandaged left arm, but otherwise she looks remarkably good. I start to step past Jax.
K ~ Sons of bitches!
Kateri rushes past me and collides with Jax, her knife out. She slams him into the stone wall, knocking over a small table and spilling its contents across the floor. The tip of her blade is pressed against his neck.
“Kateri!” I yell.
For his part, Jax keeps his hands down, making no offensive moves. By now, Reeva has seen us, and she jumps up, wincing in pain from her injuries. I reach out and grab Kateri’s arm, pulling her back.
“Stop it!”
“Look what they did to her!” she screams at me, wrenching her arm from my grasp. The anger in her eyes and voice is palpable.
“They didn’t do this,” Reeva says. “They saved me. Now get off him!”
Reeva moves to Jax’s side, glaring at Kateri. There seems to be more to her tone and her actions than what’s on the surface, but I have more pressing concerns. By now, some of the medical staff, and a few of the injured are gathering around. A second later, a heavily armed group of soldiers burst through the doors, their swords, bows, and claws at the ready.
All Things in the Shadows Page 25