All Things in the Shadows

by B. D. Messick

  K ~ Take it slow.

  “Now, now. Let’s not have any more unpleasantness,” Sirix says.

  I wrench my arms from the grasp of the guards, never taking my eyes off my mother.

  “Is it really you?” I ask, completely dumfounded.

  “It’s me,” she replies, tearing rolling down her cheeks.

  “But…how?”

  “We’ll have time for all that later,” Sirix says. “See? I told you that she wasn’t dead.”

  I just look at him, but I remain silent.

  “I mean, we could have easily killed her, along with everyone else on that plane, but I decided that she would be a much better bargaining chip.”

  “What do you want?” I ask, trying desperately to stay calm.

  “Nothing much, just a little help.”

  “Help?”

  “Come now, let’s not play games. I know why you’re here. You know what I want.”

  “A Human-Shayd hybrid to allow you to bypass the Umbra and attack the Solas directly.”

  “Exactly, and now that Kyuki has been kind enough to send you right to me, I’m prepared to offer you a deal.”

  “What sort of deal?”

  He looks at Reeva, Jax and Kateri before turning his attention back to me.

  “Your friends, and your mother can go home, except for Jax of course, if you agree to stay here and help lead my army through to the Solas.”

  “Free to go where? If you invade the Solas, there’ll be no home to return to.”

  “Just a minor detail,” he says, grinning wickedly at me.

  “And if I refuse?”

  “Then I will just have to kill them, one at a time until you agree,” he says, the smile fading quickly. “Starting with … that one.”

  He points at Kateri and two of the guards grab her, dragging her away, her boots scrambling on the marble floor. She holds onto my hand as long as she can.

  “Kateri!” I scream as another demon holds me in place.

  She struggles, but they’re far too strong for her. One of them forces her down onto her knees, holding her there.

  “Don’t do this!” I yell at Sirix.

  “I’m not doing it, you are,” he replies.

  The other guard draws his sword, placing the blade against the side of her neck.

  “Don’t do it, Eve!” Kateri yells to me.

  Get down.

  At first, I’m not sure where the thought came from, and then it dawns on me.

  Kyuki!

  E ~ Hit the deck!

  K ~ What?

  E ~ Just get the fuck down!

  The walls and the ceiling suddenly explode inward, spraying millions of shards of glass into the hall. Jax throws himself on top of Reeva as dozens of demons pour in through the shattered windows and roof. An arrow strikes one of the guards standing by Kateri, and he collapses in a heap. The other soldier retreats, fleeing from the onslaught. Kateri scrambles to her feet and races, half crouched, across the hall toward me as the chaos swells.

  She wraps her arms around me, hugging me tighter than she ever has. A moment later, she releases me.

  “What the hell is going on?” Kateri asks.

  “It’s Kyuki and her people,” I say. “Come on!”

  I grab her hand and look across the hall toward my mother. I expect to see her cowering in fear as the battle rages around her, but instead I watch as she spins on her heel, breaking free of the huge black-winged demon, deftly grabs a dagger out of his belt and plunges it deep into his belly before dragging it down with all her strength, effectively eviscerating him.

  “Holy shit. Your mom’s a badass,” Kateri says as we start running across the marble floor.

  “Yeah,” I reply, almost unable to believe what I just saw.

  A red and black demon comes out of nowhere, roaring at us and swinging a huge broadsword.

  “Watch out!” I yell, pushing Kateri out of the way.

  The flat side of the sword hits my shoulder and sends me sprawling across the floor. My attacker leaps toward me, the weapon raised when an arrow suddenly pierces his neck and he stumbles forward before collapsing. I look backwards, and Dray is standing off in the distance, a bow in his massive hands. He gives me a quick nod and grin before running off in pursuit of some new prey.

  “Are you okay?” Kateri asks, as she stands over me, offering her hand.

  “Yeah,” I reply, before taking it and scrambling to my feet. “Where’s my mom?”

  “Right here,” she says, in that lyrical and beautiful voice that I never thought I’d hear again.

  I look over Kateri’s shoulder at her smiling face and I suddenly feel like I’m going to faint again, but I fight off the urge and literally throw myself at her. Even with all the chaos going on around us, I feel like it’s just me and her at this moment. I inhale the scent of her hair, relish in the feel of her arms around me, and I’m instantly crying.

  “It’s okay,” she whispers into my ear.

  I nod into her shoulder as I slowly regain control of myself. When I finally pull back, I look at her, and I see my mother, but also someone completely new. The look in her eye is still my mother, but there’s so much more.

  “We really need to go,” Kateri says, almost timidly.

  I nod and look around the battlefield. I can’t even tell which demons are on which side, except for the few that I recognize. We need to get under cover, and then I spot Kyuki battling with two spindly, spider like creatures, each armed with four swords each.

  “Come on!” I yell and the three of us start running across the body-strewn hall.

  About halfway there, I can feel Kateri’s thoughts, and the fear in her mind as we close in on the massive arachnids.

  E ~ It’ll be okay.

  K ~ Okay.

  As we’re running, I realize I don’t even have a weapon, and then I spot the grip of a sword sticking out of a fallen demon. As we pass, I grab the handle, spinning the blade a few times with my wrist to get a feel for the balance. The dagger my mother was carrying flies past my head, plunging deep into the belly of the closer of the two spider-demons. It turns away from Kyuki and roars at us before skittering across the floor in our direction. I charge straight forward, the sword gripped tightly in my right hand.

  I can see Kateri on one side, while my mother is on the other. Something about having them both there gives me a feeling of invincibility. Two seconds later, the huge spider swings two of his swords at me, but I slip to the left and bring my blade down on one of his legs, slicing through the flesh and bone, severing the limb. He screams in pain and anger, dropping one of his weapons.

  Kateri snatches the blade off the floor before it even stops clattering on the hard marble tile. A quick slash from her, and a second limb falls, twitching for a few seconds before becoming still. Meanwhile, my mother races past us toward the other demon and Kyuki. I spin around, dropping low and stabbing the sword deep into the abdomen of the beast. It stumbles for a few seconds and then collapses in a vile pool of black, viscous blood.

  E ~ See? They’re not that scary.

  She just shakes her head in response and then we look over at my mother.

  We watch as she wrenches one of the swords away from the other demon before burying it deep into the creature’s skull. It convulses for a second, and then flips onto its back, its legs folding inward.

  “Did you know your mom could do all this?” Kateri asks.

  “Does this look like the face of someone in the know?” I shoot back.

  We run over to her. She smiles at me.

  “Are you okay?” she asks.

  “Am I okay? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she says, as if all this is normal, and then I start thinking that maybe it isn’t as alien to her as I thought.

  And then I remember Kyuki. I march over to her. She looks tired, but still fierce, a gash in her side slowly oozing blood.

  “What the hell is all this?” I ask, looking around the battlefield. />
  She doesn’t answer right away and then it finally dawns on me.

  “You had this planned all along, didn’t you?” I ask, the anger flaring inside me.

  “Yes,” she replies as she slips her sword back into its scabbard.

  “Then why didn’t we just do this? Why send us in?”

  “We needed time to get our forces in place. We needed a distraction.”

  I grind my teeth, my jaw clenching and unclenching as she talks.

  “Your distraction got Radik killed!” I yell at her.

  She nods slowly. “He knew the risk. We all do.”

  I shake my head. I want to attack her. I want to beat some sense into her, but I know it would be a futile effort, besides, we have more important things to do. Reeva and Jax come running up. Her right arm is bloodied again, and he has a nasty cut on his forehead.

  “We have to go!” he says.

  I turn and look at them. “Not without the people downstairs.”

  “Are you kidding me?” he asks.

  “I’m not leaving them behind,” I reply.

  “We’re not done downstairs anyway,” Reeva says.

  Jax shakes his head and grumbles something under his breath. It’s probably a good thing I can’t read his mind.

  “Fine. Let’s go,” he finally says.

  “What about Sirix?” Kateri asks.

  “That’s not what we’re here for. They can take care of him.”

  I start to turn and Kyuki grabs my arm.

  “Do we still have a deal?” she asks.

  I whip my head around and glare at her. She releases her grip on me and takes a small step back. I turn away without answering, taking my mother’s hand, and we all start running across the hall toward the ramp to the lower levels.

  “Where’s our stuff?” I ask Reeva as we’re running.

  “There!” Kateri answers, pointing to a pile of our scattered belongings surrounded by the bodies of our guards.

  A bright yellow, winged demon with razor like claws comes screaming at us from above, and before I even have time to react, my mother leaps off the back of a fallen monster and knocks the beast to the ground with her sword. Jax kills the creature with a fatal blow to the head before looking at my mother.

  “Impressive,” he says.

  She stares at him for a second and then nods politely. She hasn’t even asked why we’re with him, or why he’s helping us. We gather up our equipment as quickly as we can, running toward the ramp before I even have my arms through the straps of my pack.

  “What’s the plan?” Kateri asks.

  “I don’t know,” I reply, unable to come up with any other answer.

  “That’s not a good plan,” she says. We begin descending along the curving ramp.

  When we reach the door to the prison, we all file inside. I turn and look at my mom.

  “Can you stand watch here?” I ask, feeling odd that I’m even asking.

  “Just do what you need to do,” she says, nodding at me.

  I smile at her before heading inside. The others are standing around, apparently waiting for my orders.

  “Kateri. Find out how to open the doors.”

  She nods and rushes into the other room. Meanwhile, Reeva is digging in her bag. She pulls out some sort of small, black device.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s a wireless flash drive and EMP pulse bomb,” she says. “Sela gave it to me before we left.”

  It’s just a short black cylinder with suctions cups on the bottom.

  “What’s it supposed to do?”

  “It’ll download all the files from the computers out there and then we can set it to go off after we’re gone. It’ll fry all the electronics in the building.”

  There’s a loud click and the doors to the cells slide into the walls.

  “I got it!” Kateri yells from the other room.

  I look back at Reeva and Jax. “Go! Go! Get it done,” I say.

  At first, no one emerges from the rooms, until Trista finally sticks her head out, peering cautiously at me.

  “Trista. You know these people, get them ready to move,” I order.

  “Who are you?” she asks.

  “I’m Eve, and I’m here to rescue you. Now, get moving.”

  I know she’s probably as traumatized as the rest of them, but when I feel scared or alone, having a purpose or a goal helps me regain my courage.

  “Okay,” she says, and I can already hear more strength in her voice.

  “Mom. Any sign of anyone?” I call across the jail.

  “Nothing yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long.”

  I nod and watch Trista slowly gathering the rest of the five prisoners together in the middle of the room. They’re a mix of men and women, human and Shayd. A few appear to be as young as fourteen or fifteen, and it chills me to the bone to even imagine what they’ve gone through. Kateri walks in and when her eyes pass over them, she sighs, and I can feel both her anger and her pity.

  “We have to get out of here,” she says.

  “I know,” I reply, taking her hand and leading her into the laboratory.

  Reeva and Jax are busy setting up her ‘flash-bomb’ in the center of the main work table. She presses a sequence of buttons on the top of the soda-can sized device and lights start to come to life, one at a time around the top edge. They start blinking red, slowly increasing in speed.

  “Do we have a plan yet?” Kateri asks.

  “I’m working on it,” I answer, but I really have nothing.

  “Eve!” my mom yells. “They’re coming!”

  “Jax! Come on, we gotta barricade the door. Give me a hand with this. Kateri, help Trista get everyone in here.”

  The two of us, with help from a couple of the prisoners, push and pull a large, very heavy cabinet up against the exit door in the jail.

  “It’s not going to hold them for long,” my mom says.

  “I know.”

  A loud crash followed by yells and screams comes from the lab. We rush into a scene of chaos. The elevator doors are open, and five or six demons are trying to force their way inside.

  “Shit!” I curse, mad at myself for not thinking about blocking that way too.

  Jax and Reeva are fighting to hold them back as best they can. I raise my crossbow and fire a quick shot. The bolt buries itself deep in the skull of the lead demon. He collapses, but his body blocks the doors from closing. Kateri and my mother run past me, leaping into the fray, side-by-side. I stand there thinking how this is not something I ever expected to see; my mother and my girlfriend fighting a pack of demons. Jax stabs one of the remaining attackers in the neck and it stumbles back into elevator car before dropping to the ground.

  I fire a second shot, striking another one of the demons, forcing him to retreat. Kateri and Reeva drag the body of the fallen demon away from the doors, and a moment later they slowly close.

  “Everybody all right?” I ask, looking around the room.

  “Maybe not,” Jax says, his hand on his belly, dark blood dripping on the floor at his feet.

  “Shit!” Reeva says, darting to his side.

  Meanwhile, Kateri, Trista and a few of the prisoners tip over one of the larger tables and push it up against the elevator doors. I can hear them banging on the other exit. They’ll be inside any minute.

  “Is he okay?” I ask Reeva.

  “It’s bad,” she says, her hands covered in blood as she tries to stem the flow. I can see tears in her eyes.

  My mind is racing as fast as my heart. I look at my mom, at Kateri, and then Reeva, Jax and the rest of them. I can’t let them down. I start to walk away, and then I turn, staring right at Jax.

  “Can you open a portal to the Umbra?” I ask

  “Yeah, but it takes time.”

  “How much?”

  “A few minutes.”

  “That’s all you’re gonna get!”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Keep them out,” I say to Tr
ista and one of the healthier looking prisoners, a girl with long, dark hair and bright green eyes.

  Trista hands her a sword from one of the fallen demons.

  “Can you help me?” she asks.

  The girl holds the weapon for a moment, a frightened expression on her face, but it slowly fades to one of steely determination.

  “I can help you.”

  I leave them by the back door and run back into the laboratory. My mother and Kateri are guarding the elevator, dumping more equipment on the already huge pile.

  “Jax? Can you do it?”

  “A few more seconds,” he replies, his voice weak. Reeva helps him stand as he starts moving his hands in a series of patterns.

  Loud booms echo out of the jail.

  “They’re going to bust through!” Trista yells.

  “Hold them a little longer!”

  Finally, there’s a tiny flash of light in front of Jax which pulses a few times and then suddenly expands to a person sized portal of shimmering blue light.

  “Come on!” I yell. “We’re leaving!”

  Trista and the girl come running back in, weapons still in their hands. I notice a smear of blood on her sword, and a look of grim satisfaction on her face. I grab Trista’s arm.

  “Take them through and wait for us, okay?”

  She nods and gives me a quick smile.

  “I got it,” she says before gathering the rest of the former prisoners in front of the glowing hole in the air. They all look terrified, and I can’t say I blame them. The girl with the sword looks at me, and then at Trista before running headfirst through the portal.

  Jax suddenly collapses, and Reeva and my mother lower him to the ground.

  “He’s losing a lot of blood. We have to get him back to the Chapel,” Reeva says.

  “That’s not going to work. There’s no time,” I reply.

  I look over at Trista as she pushes the last of the prisoners through the gate.

  “See you on the other side,” she says, before vanishing.

  “We can’t leave him! I won’t leave him!” Reeva cries.