Shadow Realms- The Complete Series

by Kelly Carrero

  I bit my lip, trying to stop myself from admitting the truth. Fat lot of good that did. Two seconds later, I said, “I don’t have time for this. And you’re not trained enough. You’ll just be a liability.”

  Mason’s steely gaze locked onto mine. I’d hit a nerve. “I thought you of all people wouldn’t go there after the hard time Finn apparently gave you when you came here. Look how that turned out. You’re the one they’ve been looking for all these years. They had you—and almost lost you because an overbearing sibling was trying to wrap you in cotton wool.” He raised a brow. “Does that sound familiar?”

  Now he’d struck a nerve. I was doing the exact thing I’d hated Finn for doing to me.

  Mason rested his hands on my shoulders and lowered his head so his brown eyes were in line with mine. “What do you say?” When I didn’t answer, he added, “I’ll even give you some of my blood.” He smirked.

  I couldn’t understand how he could so willingly give up his blood after what he’d been through. But there he was, offering what I needed. Actually, it wasn’t exactly what I needed, but it would do.

  “I’m not letting anyone take your blood. You’ve been through enough.”

  He dropped his hands to his side. “See, that’s the thing. I don’t want what I went through to be in vain. Especially if I can save someone else from having to experience a bunch of blood suckers slowly draining them. This is my body. That was my experience. You have no right to tell me what or how I should feel. I’m not going to let Mom down, and I’m not going to let Dad down, either—even if he is too drunk to know what’s going on.”

  Hearing her name struck a chord to my heart. I was being a hypocrite, and Mason knew it. How could I be so pissed at Finn for trying to keep me safe yet do the very thing that I despised the most to Mason?

  I let out an exaggerated groan. “Fine.”

  A grin broke out across Mason’s face, lighting up a piece of his soul, evident through his eyes. The kid lived for competition, and I just prayed I wouldn’t regret my decision.

  Finn would kill me.

  I would kill me.

  The Society would be pissed and probably throw me back in the cell where I’d spend the rest of my days as little ol’ me, until I went through my transition.

  It was worth it.

  As long as Mason wasn’t hurt.

  That would be my priority, and if it meant I had to take some of his blood, then that was what I had to do.

  I withdrew the dagger from its hoist. “How do you want to do this?”

  Mason’s gaze locked on the shiny blade that somehow looked as if it were illuminated, a small replica of the one in the gym room. He swallowed hard. “Now?”

  “Better for me to have it in my system now before I need it, as it might be too late to save your ass if we do it later.”

  He breathed in deeply, then released his breath slowly, preparing for the inevitable. “Do what you have to do.” He held out his hand.

  5

  Rolling my eyes, I swatted Mason’s hand away. “Why does everyone instinctively offer their hand for blood? Because it’s pretty stupid if you think about it—unless you heal of course. But you don’t, and you’ll probably want the use of your hand tonight. So, give me your arm.”

  What I was about to do was wrong in so many ways, but I wasn’t one to play by the rules where my family was concerned.

  Resting the tip of the blade against his forearm, I gently pushed down until a prick of blood appeared then slipped the dagger back into the holster.

  Mason glanced at his wound with brows furrowed. “Is that it?”

  “Well, yeah. I only need a few drops—maybe even one—but I can cut you more if you want.” I feigned reaching for the dagger.

  “No, no,” he said. “Only take what you need.”

  The smell of his blood drifted into my nose as I lowered my mouth, hovering just above it. The temptation wasn’t there like it had been when I’d smelled the vampires. Their blood was intoxicating. Mason’s wasn’t. It held a stench about it that was kind of repulsive. I hadn’t remembered the woman I’d stalked in the alley’s blood smelling like this. I had no idea if it were the fact that vampires had been feeding on him that made Mason smell this way, or if it were because I had since tasted the good stuff and anything else became like cheap cask wine.

  Whatever the reason, I wasn’t the slightest bit enticed.

  Closing my lips over the droplets of blood forming on his skin, I ran my tongue over it, drinking from Mason’s soul, allowing it to entwine with mine, feeding me, morphing me into the creature I’d once feared. The one I now knew to be the divine being that would rescue the world.

  I almost spat his blood out as a laugh bubbled up my throat at the thought of what I was to become. I still had serious doubts as to whether I truly was the one the Society had been looking for, and wondered if they felt the same way and that was the reason why they weren’t willing to feed the beast before I turned.

  That was silly. There was no doubt in any of the Society’s minds—only in mine. It was a distant, niggling feeling of not being good enough. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was willing to do the unthinkable to them to get what I wanted.

  Maybe that was part of what made me, me. I was prepared to drink my own brother’s blood to save our drunk-ass, good-for-nothing father.

  Pulling away, I relished the way my body instantaneously morphed into that of a beast. Heightened awareness and hunger for blood coursed through my soul. But it wasn’t human blood I craved. I wanted to feast on the blood of vampires.

  I had to remind myself that tonight was about my father, not destroying the lives of the dead.

  That day would come, but for now, I would lay low and try to remain undetected. At least, that was the plan.

  Mason stared at me with a mixture of fear and shame. I could taste it in the air.

  I smiled, trying to ease his nerves. My eyes widened as the tips of my fangs pushed against my lower lip, reminding me I wasn’t like him and I was most likely scaring the crap out of him. His scars had barely healed, and I was about to take him out into the savage world where he could once again become a vampire’s pop-top.

  That was never going to happen. I would die before I’d let them take him again.

  Plus, I had a plan for if I came across one of the monsters out on the streets. I just hoped it would only be a lone monster, easy to take down without his friends.

  Trying to ignore the stench of his fear, I said, “Stop stressing, Mason. It’s just me.”

  A nervous laugh escaped his mouth. “That’s what scares me.” He quickly added, “Not that I think you’re going to attack me. It’s just weird seeing you like… them.”

  I smiled again. “Well, I can safely say I in no way find your blood appealing.” I made my way over to the window. “We better get moving before someone comes looking for you.”

  Opening the window, I sucked in a sharp breath as the distant smell of the demonic creatures wafted into my room.

  I shoved my desire to track down the monsters to the back of my mind and tried to focus on what we needed to do.

  Not so carefully, I climbed out of the room, landing on the roof with the grace of a vampire. Mason, however, was the typical human, trying to be quiet and failing miserably. How on earth I made it out of there on my own last time without being caught was a mystery.

  “Shh,” I whispered.

  He drew his brows together. “I’m barely making any noise.”

  I held back a snort. The guy was delusional if he thought he was being stealthy. Then it hit me. Mason probably was as quiet as a mouse. It was just my heightened hearing that amplified his every move.

  “This way.” I motioned Mason to follow me.

  Carefully, we made our way across the roof top, then dropped onto the roof below. From there, we had a two story drop without anything to break our fall.

  Falling wasn’t a problem for me, but Mason didn’t have that
luxury.

  Scanning our surroundings, I tried to figure out a way that I could get him down. Then I spotted a tree with strong limbs, able to handle our weight.

  “Come here,” I said, wrapping my arm around his waist.

  “What are you doing?” Mason asked nervously, his muscles tightening under my touch.

  “I’m going to jump with you over to that tree and—”

  “The hell you are.” Mason pushed against me, trying to break free. But he was weak, unable to break my grasp on him.

  “Trust me,” I said. “I’m not going to drop you…” I trailed off as I came up with another way to get us off this roof.

  “Can’t we use some stairs or something?” he asked, searching our surroundings. “I mean, there has to be some fire escape in a building this old.”

  “The only stairs are inside where we could easily run into someone from the Society, and we can say goodbye to Dad. Or I’d have to incapacitate them so I could get away, leaving you there to take the fall.”

  “Not funny.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be. But you need to either grow some balls or go back inside and pretend you never saw me.”

  Mason glanced over his shoulder momentarily before returning his gaze to the tree. “You sure you can make it?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay.”

  Before Mason could change his mind, I firmly held onto him and jumped. Only it wasn’t toward the tree.

  Sweeping Mason into my arms, holding him like a baby, I waited for the impact, praying I hadn’t overestimated my abilities. His face drained of color the moment he realized what I was doing, and the stench of fear that followed was palpable.

  My feet landed on the ground, my knees bending, cushioning our fall.

  Mason thrashed in my arms, and I had to force myself to let him down and not carry him until we were safely out of the estate.

  His chest heaved, and his icy gaze locked on me. “What the hell were you thinking? You could’ve killed us,” he shouted in a whisper.

  I shrugged. “I got you down, didn’t I?”

  His nostrils flared with anger and annoyance. “You could’ve killed me.”

  I softly whacked his chest with the back of my hand. “Get over it.” I broke out into a jog, acutely aware of Mason taking a few moments before he followed. It really would’ve been easier if I had just carried him. But the guy had an issue with that. Who knew?

  Slowing down, I waited for him to catch up, making sure there wasn’t anyone around to bust us. Music carried through the air from the back of the estate where it seemed most of the security was hanging out. There were a couple of guards armed with guns stationed at the entrance to the estate, but either side of the driveway was clear, making it an easy getaway.

  The distant smell of vampires still lingered in the air, tugging on an invisible cord within me, drawing me in their direction. It was hard to ignore, but I had no choice. My beef wasn’t with them tonight.

  My nerves were set on edge with every crunch Mason made with his footsteps as we hurried across the grass. I turned around to tell him to be quiet when I caught a glimpse of a figure looming on the rooftop track.

  Eyes going wide, I saw every detail that would’ve been hidden to me had I not had the help of Mason’s blood running through me. I didn’t know the guy on the roof, but he was armed, and alerted to a noise—us. He was about two seconds away from busting our asses. We had to move.

  My options were to ditch Mason and make a run for it, leaving him to cop the fallout and probably end up in the cell. The protective part of me said that was the best place for him, but his words reminding me of how hypocritical I was being struck a part of me that was stronger, more incessant.

  Deciding to take him with me, I slammed into Mason, tossing him over my shoulder as I made a run for the wall. To Mason’s credit, he didn’t make a noise. But I was sure I was going to hear about it later. That was his style. And this was mine.

  Leaping into the air, I crossed over the wall with little effort then landed on the pavement of the sidewalk.

  Mason bucked against me, trying to get down, but the sound of footsteps racing across the grass on the other side of the wall made me tighten my grip.

  He would thank me for it later.

  Taking off down the street, I put as much distance as I could between us and them then pulled up just short of the main street, stopping behind an overgrown hedge surrounding a battered, rundown home.

  Lowering Mason to his feet, I assessed him for any signs of injury that I hadn’t been able to sense with my huntress abilities. Satisfied he was okay, I peered through the sparse foliage in the direction of the compound and ignored the whispered curses Mason was slinging my way.

  I couldn’t hear anything other than the usual neighborhood sounds: people arguing, others watching TV, some… I shook my thoughts away. That was none of my business.

  Averting my gaze to Mason, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the irritation radiating through his eyes.

  “Were you even listening to me?” Mason said, practically blowing steam through his nose.

  I rolled my eyes. “You wanted to come with me, so deal with it.”

  “Deal with it,” he said more to himself than me, shaking his head.

  “Hey, at least I didn’t carry you like a baby.”

  He glared at me. Then a couple of moments later, his lips tipped up into a smile, quickly turning into a hushed laugh. “Who would’ve thought you’d ever have the strength to carry me. I’m almost twice your weight.”

  I gestured to his muscles—or lack there-of. “Dream on.” I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. Mason had lost a lot of body mass since he was taken by the faction, and I shouldn’t have made fun of him. Luckily, he was a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of guy and didn’t seem to care. That was probably why he was so much more popular than my snarky self. And he knew it.

  Taking one more look through the hedges, I checked to make sure the coast was clear then said, “We better keep moving.”

  Hunched over, we crept through the garden then made our way out onto the main street. There was a bus stop two hundred yards up the street, where a small group of people were waiting, making me think the bus was due to arrive shortly.

  “Act normal,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Mason cast me a sideways glance. “I don’t think it’s me we need to worry about.” When I gave him a quizzical look he added, “Have you actually seen yourself in a mirror when you’ve turned?”

  “Huh,” I said, realizing I’d never thought to check myself out.

  “You might be my sister and all, but you’ll scare the shit out of anyone that sees you with those fangs. You look like a blood sucker. Only you’re not as pale as they are.” He leaned closer, narrowing his eyes, then gestured to my face. “And those eyes of yours…”

  I frowned. “What about my eyes?”

  He cocked his head toward a car parked on the street. “See for yourself.”

  Knowing I probably looked as if I were going to try to steal the car, I leaned down and stared at my reflection in the side mirror.

  6

  I jerked away from the car’s side mirror in surprise, then moved closer, staring at my eyes in wonder. Icy blue specks swirled through my brown iris’s like stardust, moving, changing, morphing with every second that passed. “Huh,” I muttered as I stood up straight.

  “Huh?” Mason said. “Is that all you can say for yourself? Do you see what I see?”

  “Well, what do you see?”

  Mason moved closer, studying my eyes. “There are tiny blue specks in them. And it’s like they’ve got a life of their own.”

  “Yep. That’s what I see, too.”

  He furrowed his brows. “And you’re not weirded out by them?”

  I barked out a laugh. “My eyes are the least freaky thing about me.” I pointed to my fangs.

  “Oh,” he mouthed, his face going pale. He was probably rememb
ering what the vampires had done to him, and now his sister, who was supposed to be his protector, had fangs that were able to rip him apart.

  I snapped my lips closed, covering my fangs. Looking down, I said, “You know I’m not going to hurt you, right? I mean, I don’t have any urges for your blood. Actually, it’s kind of repulsive in comparison to the vampires.”

  Mason placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t think you’re going to hurt me. It’s just…”

  I tilted my head back to look at him. Everyone in my family taller than I was. Even Mason, and he was two years younger than I was. “I remind you of them.”

  He nodded.

  “I get it, and I wished I had never let them take you to begin with.”

  Mason scrunched his face up in confusion. “It wasn’t your fault they took me. We all know about the mandatory testing. There was nothing you could do.”

  “Actually, there was,” I said, wincing at my own words. “I could’ve had Bec change the results for you like she’d done for me.”

  He shook his head slowly. “You can’t live your life with what-ifs. They’ll drive you insane. What’s happened has happened. I’m just glad you all came when you did.”

  I gave him a smile, filled with remorse. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one bestowing you with wisdom?”

  Laughing, Mason gave my bicep a gentle punch. “See. I always told you I was smarter than you. You were just too dumb to believe me.”

  I barked out a laugh. “Watch it, little brother. The tides have changed, and I can make you pay.”

  The smile instantly dropped from his face, striking a nerve to my heart. “I’m sorry. I—”

  Mason chuckled. “You should see your face.”

  Frustration and anger swirled inside of me, my eyes going wide and my lips turning up into a snarl. “That’s it, you little turd.” I swept him up into my arms and held him there against his squirms as I strode up to the group of people at the bus stop, where I placed him on his feet.

  Mason’s face was bright red with embarrassment, his manhood stripped. Served him right. “Payback’s a bitch,” I said with a satisfied grin.