Shadow Realms- The Complete Series

by Kelly Carrero

  “You already have.” Lana lunged for me, driving her blade toward my shoulder, trying to force me to drop my dagger. It was a move she’d shown me all too often. In the past, I could never defend myself. But that was then, and this was now.

  Blocking her blade with my own, I thrust my elbow into her side, following through with a gentle kick to her knee that came out a little harder than I’d hoped. A sharp yelp escaped from her mouth as she dropped to the ground.

  Guilt swept over me. I hadn’t wanted to hurt Lana. She’d been my friend. And I stupidly held onto the glimmer of hope that Lana had no idea what was really going on and was nothing but a pawn in her family’s demonic game.

  She rolled and flicked herself up into a standing position, putting most of her weight on her good leg. “Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends.”

  “Because I don’t want to be in bed with my enemy.”

  She furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about?”

  “As if you don’t know.” I stalked toward her, swinging my blades around in the palm of my hands. “You held me captive, and you’ll happily allow the demons to possess me for the Society’s own selfish plans of helping the demons take over the world.”

  Lana backed up a few inches, trying to put a bit of distance between us. “You’re wrong. They’ve lied to you.”

  “The only ones who have lied to me are you, your family, and that bitch of a witch of yours.” I spun around and slammed the hilt of the dagger into the side of her head, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying a good ten yards away.

  My heart stopped as I stared at her chest, waiting to see if she was going to rise. A few moments later, I sighed with relief then raced over to the bush and dropped to my knees as I holstered my daggers.

  Attempting to dig with my hands proved to be useless. The earth was dry, and we hadn’t thought to bring a shovel.

  Stealing a glance over my shoulder, I made sure Lana was still unconscious and the hunters had the vampires under control. Satisfied I wasn’t needed, I readjusted my tactic and got to my feet. I wrapped my hands around the stem of the bush and ripped the roots from the ground, flinging the bush a few feet away.

  Dropping to my knees again, I dug through the upheaved dirt, searching for anything that resembled the key. Just when I thought I’d gotten it wrong, my fingers hit something hard.

  With my stomach in my throat, I wrapped my fingers around it and—

  Pain exploded through my back, ripping straight through me, as warmth spilled over my skin. I looked down and saw the tip of a blade sticking out from my stomach, surrounded by a pool of blood.

  28

  My head yanked back as someone tugged on my ponytail and held a blade against my throat. “I’ll take that,” a female voice barked.

  Shit.

  I glanced over at my friends, hoping someone would come to my rescue, but they were too caught up in the fight to pay attention to me, the one who was supposedly untouchable.

  “Now.”

  Remembering the extra daggers Max had insisted I wear, I could’ve kissed him. The daggers on my back were useless, but the others weren’t.

  Pretending to go along with her request, I slowly moved my hand toward her. Then at the last second, I withdrew a knife from my pants with my other hand and stabbed it into her ankle, slashing her achilles tendon.

  The blade against my throat dug into my neck, blood spilling from the wound as her hand jerked away, making me lose my grip on the key, dropping it back into the hole.

  Spinning around, I clutched my neck and slashed the blade across her stomach with my other hand, barely nicking her before she jumped back.

  “You foolish girl,” she said, her black hair flowing around her shoulders as if she had a personal fan blowing directly on her, but there was no wind around us.

  Girl? Who was she calling girl? She was not much older than I was.

  A sadistic laugh escaped her mouth as her eyes narrowed on me. “You silly child. You thought you were the only one.”

  The blood drained from my face as it dawned on me what she was saying. The girl was just like me. Only there was something seriously wrong with her.

  She was demon possessed.

  Her black eyes stared back at me, taunting me, her fangs resting against her ruby-red lips that looked as if she’d just fed. As much as I wanted to believe it was the blood of a vampire, I knew differently.

  It was human.

  For the first time since I’d partially awoken, I was consumed with fear. The vampires may have been no match for me, but this demon chick was. I could tell by the look in her eyes. She wasn’t afraid. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

  She looked at me the way Max had before I’d grown on him, as if she knew I was no match for her.

  With lightning speed, she practically flew toward me, but I jumped to the side, sticking out my blade, hoping to slice through her torso as she passed.

  My blades never connected with her.

  At the very last second, she dropped to her knees and dug her blade into the outside of my thigh, dragging it along with her movement until it had passed through to the other side.

  I screamed in pain, absolute fear engulfing me as I clutched my hand against my thigh, trying to put weight on my good leg when all I wanted to do was collapse to the ground.

  What kept me up wasn’t fear of dying. It was the knowledge that so many people were still counting on me.

  I’d be damned if I was going to let those demons keep my mother and kill everyone I cared about. I needed to figure out a way to take down this bitch.

  Spinning around to face her, I caught a glimpse of Lana, stomach on the ground, pulling a gun from the holster on her waist and pointing it at me.

  Great. Now I not only had a psycho demonic huntress on my ass, I also had a very pissed-off hunter.

  Letting go of my thigh, I held my daggers in front of me, preparing myself for the next attack—and a bullet from Lana. Why the hell hadn’t Max thought to give me a gun?

  If I got out of here alive, I was going to be the best gunslinger this side of the Shadow Realms.

  The demonic huntress smirked as she glanced down at my weapons. “Surrender now and I’ll let your friends live.”

  Sickness engulfed me, knowing how serious she was and the fact I couldn’t trust she would keep her end of the deal. Why would she?

  If I didn’t take her out, no one was going to walk out of here alive tonight.

  With a newfound purpose and determination, I concentrated on the power I had inside of me, calling to it.

  Energy buzzed under my skin, making my hairs stand on end, but the hair on my head still fell flat, unlike the bitch in front of me whose hair was flowing with magical demonic energy.

  Just as I started to make my move, she raised her hand in front of her, dark smoke billowing out of her, wrapping around my entire body, immobilizing me.

  The demonic huntress cackled, just like the demons from the Shadow Realms, as she sauntered toward me, an arrogant sway to her step. “You could’ve saved them all, but now I think I’ll make you watch their demise.”

  Blood splattered onto me, coating my face in a thick layer of crimson as a bullet exploded through her shoulder. She jerked forward as another bullet entered her back.

  Whatever hold she had on me was gone as she collapsed, no longer moving.

  I raised my gaze to see who I had to thank for saving my ass and saw Lana on her knees, gun raised and the key in her left hand.

  I swallowed hard, not knowing if I was going to be next. Then she did something I never expected. Lana tossed the key to me. “Go.”

  The moment my fingers wrapped around the key, I knew it was special. Energy radiated from where my skin touched it, pulsating through me.

  “Go,” Lana snapped again.

  Everything I thought I knew about Lana was unraveling, doubts forming inside of me as I wondered if she was really helping me, or she was setting me up
for some greater plan.

  Whatever her intentions, I knew I couldn’t stick around.

  My thigh screamed in pain as I hobbled away from the scene as fast as I could. I needed to get back to the van and return to the sanctuary of the little village. I wished we had some sort of communication device so I could let the others know I had what we’d come for, because there was no way I was going to yell it out for Orphelia to hear.

  I was about halfway through the neighbor’s yard when Max came out of nowhere and scooped me into his arms, pressing me against his chest. As much as I hated being treated like a baby, my leg was grateful for the gesture.

  He didn’t say a word as he took off toward the vehicles, and within seconds, he had me inside and the door shut behind us, casting a disappearing act for anyone passing by. It was the same spell they used to conceal their magical container ship compound.

  Max set me down on the bench seat and grabbed the first aid kit positioned beneath. “I’m assuming you have the key?”

  I opened my fingers, revealing the key on the palm of my hand. It didn’t look like an actual key that you used to unlock a house or a car. This one was made out of labradorite and wasn’t even in the shape of a key. The crystal was bound within an antique bronze rope-like casing with a little ring at the top to slip a chain through.

  He sighed with relief as I slipped it into the inside pocket of my pants. “What the hell happened out there?”

  “I’m not the only one,” I said through gritted teeth. “They already have a demon-possessed huntress who would’ve killed me if Lana hadn’t put a bullet in her.”

  His gaze shot up to meet mine. “Lana saved you?”

  I nodded as he pulled a pair of scissors out of the kit. “Do you think she knows the truth about the Society?”

  “There’s no way to be sure, and we can’t risk placing our trust in her.” Max lifted my pants away from my skin and cut the material off, leaving my leg bare, exposing one hell of a wound that didn’t seem to be healing as quickly as I would’ve liked. “You’re lucky it missed any major arteries.”

  I wasn’t sure luck had been involved. The demonic huntress had been precise, wanting to keep me alive while doing what she could to play with me, destroying my chances of fighting back.

  He pulled out a couple pieces of gauze, placed them over the wound, and wrapped a bandage around my thigh. When he was done, he grabbed a bag of blood and tossed it to me. “Drink up. It should help with your healing.”

  Unlike Finn, Max didn’t look away as I put the bag to my lips and drank. In fact, he grabbed another bag for when I was done with this one.

  Max sat on the floor in front of me, resting his free hand on my calf, comforting me with his gentle touch and his nonjudgmental eyes, which remained locked with mine. Out of everyone, I would’ve thought he would’ve had the biggest issue with my desire for blood, but he took it in stride, never once making me feel like a monster.

  Warmth spread through my body as the blood healed me from the inside out, and even though I had a gash the size of a ruler on my thigh, I knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

  Once I’d sucked the bag dry, Max handed me the next as the door of the van opened and Kade and a few other hunters on our side piled in, shutting the door behind them. The driver’s door opened, and another hunter or witch hopped in and started the van.

  My breath caught in my throat, the bag of blood almost slipping from my hands. “Where’s Finn?”

  Kade slumped into the seat beside me and ran his bloodied hand through his hair, which was no cleaner. “Don’t stress. Finn went in one of the other vans.”

  Relief flooded through me. There’s nothing worse than fearing a loved one’s death. Scratch that. The actual death was worse. I swallowed hard, trying to squash the emotions of my mother’s passing to the back of my mind and focus on the now. “And Nessa?”

  “She’s staying behind to take care of Orphelia so we can get away,” Liam said. “She’ll catch up with us once she knows we’re at a safe distance.”

  It wasn’t long before we were back inside the protective wards surrounding the colony, the key safely in my possession, which was where it would remain.

  My level of trust was almost nonexistent.

  Max helped me over to the medic room where my father was still sleeping on a bed, looking better than he had the last time I’d seen him. After so many years of seeing him passed out, it was hard to hold any hope he’d get better.

  Bringing Mom back may not help him give up the bottle even though her death was the reason he’d started drinking.

  I lay on the next bed with the back raised so I was more in a sitting position as Angela, the healer, undid the bandages until I could see the gaping wound in my leg.

  Angela scowled as she assessed my injury. “I hate to think how bad this was when it happened.”

  Max slid his hand over mine and gently squeezed it. “It was double the size. Kali’s lucky she didn’t lose her leg.”

  Grateful for his comforting touch, I relaxed a little. “Yeah, I don’t think that was her aim. What use is a one-legged demon-possessed hunter for them?”

  She lifted her gaze to meet mine, worry circling in her eyes. “Not much at all.”

  Nessa entered the room, looking a little worse for wear. In fact, she looked as if she’d had a fistfight with the demon witch. Caked blood was smeared across her cheekbone, her left eyebrow was split, and her body was battered and bruised.

  Walking with a limp, she crossed the room to me. “Tell me you have the key.”

  A grin crept across my face. “I do.”

  “Well, where is it?”

  Part of me wanted to tell her to get lost because there was no way I was disclosing the whereabouts of the most important object in this world to me, but there was something about her that told me I could trust her. And trust didn’t come very lightly when my mother’s and loved ones’ lives were at stake.

  Eventually, I reached inside my pocket and retrieved the key, a warm, tingling sensation radiating through my hand.

  Nessa sucked in a sharp breath. “Do you feel it? A connection?”

  I nodded.

  She smiled. “Good. Now don’t let that out of your sight. I’ll clean up then begin preparation for your awakening.”

  I slipped it back into my pocket as I noticed her staring at my wound. “It’s getting better.”

  Nessa rested her hand on my calf in a comforting way. “Your healing abilities will only improve once we complete the awakening.”

  “She was there,” I said. “Another one like me only stronger.”

  Nessa nodded slowly. “It’s the only explanation for your leg.”

  “Will I be able to kick her ass when I’m at my true strength?” I wanted nothing more than to kick the shit out of her and send the demon back to the Shadow Realms.

  My shoulders slumped as I realized she could’ve been exactly like me, wanting to do the right thing, only no one had come to her rescue, and now she was possessed by a demon making her do all these things. There was a possibility that she was still an innocent.

  The lines were way too blurred.

  “You’ll be able to hold your own against her and any others that might show up,” Nessa said with a smile. “For you’ll have the power of our land on your side.” She cocked her head. “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s going to be hard, but you can succeed.”

  “I only got away because of Lana. She shot her with a bullet that incapacitated her. Then she threw me the key. Lana had it in her possession, and she gave it to me.”

  Nessa’s brows furrowed. “That’s interesting.”

  “Interesting how?”

  She shook her head. “Never mind.” When I gave her a “you’ve got to be kidding” look, she added, “Lana might not be lost. And about the bullet, I’ll have to see if I can figure out what spell Orphelia would’ve used before she tries to use it on you. Now rest up. The ceremony should be ready by sunrise.” S
he retreated out the door with a limp.

  My stomach leaped into my throat. Sunrise was only two hours away, and as much as I wanted to bring my mother back from the Shadow Realms, taking on the demons scared the crap out of me. I had no idea how I was going to kill beings that didn’t have physical bodies, but I didn’t have a choice.

  29

  Over the last few weeks, I’d thought about this moment so many times. Some days I couldn’t wait, and others I was deadly afraid of what was going to happen. Now, I was riddled with fear of the unknown and anticipation as to what I would become.

  I took comfort in knowing I wasn’t going to be giving my body over to a huntress to possess. I, in fact, was the huntress and had been all along.

  Standing in the center of a circle made out of what looked like chard wood mixed with dirt and contained flecks of white and purple they had sprinkled on top of the earth, I breathed in the aromatic scents of the candles burning around us. With me was Nessa, no longer wearing her combat gear and now dressed in what appeared to be a traditional forest green hooded robe that seemed to balance perfectly with nature. The bruises covering her body were barely noticeable, and the cut on her eyebrow was now a scratch.

  The wind blew gently, picking up the aroma and wisps of smoke from the candles as they wrapped around us, forming a barrier between us and those on the outside.

  I cast a glance toward my friends and family, who were there for moral support but probably more likely wanting to catch the first glimpse of the one who could save them all. That or they wanted to see me turn into a ravenous vampire-hunting witch they had to try to control. Which would explain the guns they had strapped to their waists.

  They’d assured me the weapons were for the off chance the Society would attack, but I had a hard time believing them.