Burned In Shadows

by Eden, Tigris

  “Adam, where is Suki?” The death walkers were getting closer while Adam and Soliel continued to dissever heads. Zea didn’t have time to think about Suki, and she prayed the girl was nowhere near their location. The one time she’d touched the receptionist back at headquarters had been a revelation of sorts. Dravaggio’s receptionist was a Siren, and they had voices that could make you fall in love, or die. In this case, Zea was about to use the secretary’s voice to her advantage.

  “You two need to need to stop fighting when I say, and cover your ears as best you can.”

  Both barely acknowledge her with a faint nod. It was good they didn’t question her because she didn’t have time for answers. Zea dropped to one knee and nodded her head in Adam’s and Soliel’s direction. They stopped to cover their ears as she let loose a sound that shattered everything within a hundred yards of her. The sound was haunting at first but then rose in pitch and the building began to shake. From her peripheral, she saw Adam and Soliel holding their heads trying to block out the sound, blood was sliding through their fingers where their ear drums had busted. It had to be from the pressure. Zea looked out at the walkers; they had all dropped to their knees screaming. There were only about a dozen of them now, but they’d all converged to where she and the others were fighting. She took the octave up one more notch before the first head burst. It was like a domino effect as each death walker went down. Blood was everywhere. Soaked into the carpet spilling down the walls. It was a horrific site.

  Zea sat back on her haunches and looked around at everyone. Adam and Soliel were still alive, but she still hadn’t seen Suki. What kind of a test was this? What did it prove? There was movement out of the corner of her eye, and Black and Enri walked in from a side door. They looked around the room at what was left behind of the death walkers and nodded their heads. All these people, innocent human people, had just wanted to conduct business at their local bank, and now because of some sick twisted bastard they were all dead. Dead.

  “ZEA!” Black’s voice was laced with anger. He was mad about something. She didn’t know what, but he was angry.

  “Come with me now.”

  She stood up and weaved her way through the bodies that were toppled over one another, discarded. Just like that, they’d been discarded. Her head was still bleeding, and some of it had started to run down the side of her face. She took the back of her hand and rubbed the offending moisture away.

  “Sir.”

  “Follow me.” Black moved through a set of double doors and down a dark corridor. This part of the building she hadn’t noticed before. Why hadn’t she noticed it?

  Chapter 16

  Black walked deeper into the corridor with Zea trailing behind. The energy from the fight was still pulsing through her, intoxicating him. How could this woman possibly affect him on this level? To his knowledge, not one woman ever could. He was cold and calculating. He’d purposely given her the dagger in hopes that she’d not make it out of this exercise in one piece. She was messing with his head, and there was no room for error.

  An errant thought fogged his mind as he took her deeper down the corridor. They’re your people to Draven. Marcus had called him Draven. That wasn’t his name, his name was Black. That’s all he’d ever gone by for as long as he could remember. Well how far back can you remember? He knew there were holes in his past, big ones. But that didn’t excuse his behavior or his reaction to this woman. He still had Melissa on him from his late night rendezvous that lasted well into the morning. Was he going crazy? Maybe he should have seen the sadistic doctor before taking the recruits out on this assignment. He’d watched her through the banks monitors and although she’d froze for a second during the initial start of the turning, she’d quickly gotten her bearings and fought her way downstairs.

  Enri had made a comment about her being a formidable mate. Why had he used the word mate, and why did it not seem abhorrent to him? Something about the word rang true to him, but how or why he wasn’t sure.

  His only objective was destroying the agency. They choked immortals, took without ever giving back. The Agency wanted to know all their secrets. Some immortals shared tiny slivers of their practices, but only enough to earn the good graces of the pathetic council and the government’s secret group known as the Agency. Immortals were becoming puppets and didn’t seem to mind. Marcus had planted a seed of doubt in Black’s mind, and if it wasn’t for the fact the bastard was as good as dead already, he’d have killed him again and again just to assuage his rage.

  Black stopped at the steel door and quickly opened it. The interior lights automatically came on and inside was a single chair. He wasn’t going to harm her, but he was going to get some questions answered. There were no bugs, no eyes watching in this room. Here, he could ask or do anything he wanted and not suffer the consequences. Zea seemed to falter as she walked through but quickly righted herself as she took stock of her surroundings. Black closed and locked the door behind him.

  “This door is voice activated. Don’t think to out maneuver me in any way, it won’t work.”

  She didn’t seem to care, but she knew the chair was for her and so she refused to sit.

  “Trying to scare me won’t work either, Black.” Zea shot back at him.

  The blast of her emotions were enough to make him wince. It seemed they were all over the place at times, other times she kept her cool.

  “Who are you working for?” He asked her calmly. She was obviously put here, for what he didn’t know. And as his suspicions grew, so did his paranoia.

  She sniffed her disdain and just continued to pace the length of the room. Her nerves were agitated, and she seemed out of sorts, but not too out of sorts. She was planning and calculating something. He’d been through a dozen different operations where he had to sniff something out of someone. Wait? What operations?

  Black decided he’d grab the chair. Enri was taking the others back to the facility and told him he would send a car later. The fallen angel had been more than supportive of his idea to question Zea. Underneath the blood and sweat that was smeared into her clothes and skin, he could smell the faintest scent of pineapples and coconuts. Where was that scent coming from? It didn’t fit with this picture, or the dreams that were so deeply embedded into his brain. There were times he couldn’t wait to sleep. Knew he’d smell her tropical mixture of sun, sugar and nutmeg. His head was starting to hurt and the more he sat in the chair, the more she paced, the more agitated he became.

  “I work for you sir,” she finally answered.

  “Bullshit.”

  Black was on his feet and had his hands tangled in her hair as he backed her up against the concrete wall.

  “I’m going to ask you one more time,” he breathed slowly. Her scent intensified and mingled with salty skin and fear. “Who do you work for?”

  Harshly he jerked her head to the side and sniffed the side of her neck and face. Right there! He could smell it more pronounced now, it was there on her skin, but skin that had too many gold specks and not enough brown sugar. What the fuck are you doing Black? Zea winced in pain as his hand pulled tighter on her hair.

  “Fuck you, Black. You reek of her! Don’t you fucking come near me when you smell like another woman you prick!”

  He wasn’t prepared for the knee that connected to his balls. She distracted him with her smell and down he went. Before she could move out of his way, he reached out with both hands and pulled her feet from under her. She hit the ground hard and he quickly dragged her beneath his body, holding her there.

  The harsh sounds of their breath and rapid heartbeats were the only sounds in the room. He knew he was heavy, but he still put all of his weight on her. He didn’t want to give her any room to make any more hurtful blows. For just a moment, he thought there was a flash of dark brown hair before it changed to short black spikes smeared with blood. What the fuck was she? He knew she had to be some kind of shifter, but he’d never seen one that could take th
e form of another person. Animals yes, people? No.

  “Get the fuck off me Black. Get off!”

  She was struggling, and her eyes were wet with tears, why did that make his chest hurt? Why was she able to tie him up and wring him out, leaving him empty inside? He reluctantly rolled off of her and lay flat on his back. She stayed on her back and finally she sat up to brace her back up against the wall trying to catch her breath. He righted himself and sat opposite of her. They stared at each other from across the room for what seemed like hours before she spoke again.

  “Never touch me. When you’ve been with her, don’t come anywhere near me. Do you hear me?” Her voice was chaotic, and he knew that at any moment, she would snap.

  He found himself shaking his head yes and why would he do that? It shouldn’t matter to him or to her who he smelled like if he wanted to have sex with her and Melissa, he could. As quickly as the thought surfaced, he shut it down. Feelings? Now you have feelings? No, he was confused, there was something about her that reeled him in, pulled him closer. He’d wanted to be rid of her because she was a distraction. Now, he wasn’t sure what he wanted.

  “Why do you fucking torment me? I know you from somewhere,” he stood and walked to the center of the room, giving himself distance from her. When she looked up at him, she smiled. A genuine smile. Her face was caked with dried blood, her clothes sticky with blood and still she smiled at him.

  “I work for you Black.” She said as she stood and closed the distance between them. She looked up into his eyes, eyes so like his it was unsettling. He waited for her to do something, anything. And whatever she was about to do he was going to let her, they were a breath apart and if he either of them moved they’d be right on top of each other, you couldn’t get any closer than that.

  Green eyes stared at him and then as if a veil had been removed, she morphed into his dream enchantress. Complete with a bikini top, jean shorts and beautiful long brown hair. Her eyes became a warm, golden honey and the smell that had haunted him for the past three weeks intensified. Black stood rooted to the spot. He couldn’t blink, couldn’t close his eyes for fear he was dreaming the entire thing up. Slowly his hand reached down, and when he went to touch her she’d changed back. Taller, more athletic with short black hair and green eyes.

  “Change back!” He yelled. He should have gone to the fucking doctor. He was hallucinating again.

  Zea stood in front of him now, not his dream, not his seductress, but Zea, the foul mouth warrior of a woman with a filthy mouth and an even uglier attitude. He wanted to see her soft and warm again, wanted to memorize her curves. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her again. Again? You’ve never had her. She wouldn’t change back and the more he wanted her to, the more upset he got.

  She got right in his face before she spoke in a hushed voice.

  “You will never see that woman again if you continue down the path you’re on Black.” Her voice shook, and her face grew more pronounced.

  “You will never see what could have been if you don’t wise up and realize that this entire thing is one seriously fucked up nightmare. Yours and mine. Do I know you?” She smiled showing teeth and fang. “Of course I do? But the question is, do you know who you are?

  He grabbed her by the arms and brought her flush against his chest. She pulled back, tried to get away, but he wasn’t about to let her go. She was fucking with his mind, and he didn’t like head games, the good doctor had done enough of that already.

  “You’re playing with death girl. And when death comes knocking on the door, you have no choice but to answer.”

  He sniffed her neck again. It was gone now faded into the background as if it never existed. Disgusted, he pushed her away with a sneer. He would get to the bottom of this. She was working for someone; the Agency or the Shadow Unit maybe? He didn’t know, but he’d find out. She wanted to play games, he would allow it, but the rules were about to be severely changed.

  “You won’t smell Melissa on me again because when I’m done with you the only thing you’re going to be able to smell is me.”

  The door opened, and Enri walked in all fangs and midnight wings. The fallen angel was seriously starting to get on his nerves.

  “Aaah the happy couple is finally reunited. Let’s go before he notices how long you two have been gone. The others are back at the facility, and I’m due for a feeding in a couple of minutes. You two can kiss and make up on the way.”

  Enri opened the door wider to allow them to walk past. Zea hadn’t said another word but followed closely behind. What did Enri mean, finally reunited?

  # # #

  Zea walked between Black and Enri, confused. What the hell was he talking about reunited? Had her cover been blown? It couldn’t have been. If anyone was adept at mind games, it was her. How else could she pull this assignment off?

  “I think he’s remembering,” She sent the thought to Royce, who was at this very moment ignoring her. He had been most of the evening, and she knew why. It was her and Adams ass on the line, not theirs. The twins and Belinda were comfy and cozy playing house in their little apartment down the road. She was out here putting her ass on the line and so far the information she gathered wasn’t worth squat. She shouldn’t have let him see Jes. You are Jes. Over the last few weeks, she hadn’t been feeling like Jes at all but totally like Zea. Zea who wasn’t a mother and who had issues just like the rest of the recruits. Head in the game Jes keep your head in the game. That was her talking herself down, not Royce who still hadn’t answered. She’d never tried to reach out to Ronin before and didn’t know how. For whatever reason she was connected to Royce and he was the only one she could two way with.

  As they neared the front of the building, she looked around and noticed that most of the mess had been cleaned up. Men in white protective gear were gathering bodies, but she still hadn’t seen Suki. Was the girl dead? Should she even be worried? The cleaning crew ignored the three of them as they passed by and walked out into the night’s air. The sun had long gone down, and the stars were starting to paint the dark sky with diamonds.

  There was a car parked on the curb, windows tinted a frosted black. She couldn’t tell if there was anyone inside it, or not, but it was running. Enri was still in his winged form, so he obviously had no intention of driving. She didn’t know much about fallen angels, but she knew their wings would start to fall off and they would turn into what humans knew to be demons. It was a slow and painful process. Fallen angels were also hunted by Seraphs. They were warrior angels bred from a fallen who was crazed with taking over the world. They never got the chance to follow their father, but were led into a life of servitude, that they could never be free of. Why weren’t they coming after Enri? He was definitely a fallen angel.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about me girl. Be more concerned about yourself.” Enri said behind her.

  She was about to go into full panic mode when his hand landed harshly on her shoulder.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you right now. I don’t care who you work for and as long as your interests don’t interfere with mine, we’ll stay out of each other’s way, now get in the fucking car.”

  She kept her mouth shut, but her body visibly shuddered at what he’d said. This had been the man that kept an eye on Faith when she’d been taken. He was also the same man that use to work for Marcus or still did; she didn’t know because she still didn’t have the information she needed. Black ignored what the angel had said to her. Either he didn’t care what the other man said, or he too was wrapped up in his own thoughts. Zea slid into the back of the car alongside Black, Enri followed next. There was a dark partition separating them from their driver, so she couldn’t see a thing through the glass. If they had planned to kill her they would have done it back in that room. So she didn’t understand what all the secrecy was about because she’d more than heard the tales of Enri and his sadistic ways.

  “You offend me again, I’ll sho
w you exactly how sadistic.”

  Zea looked over at Black who had the strangest expression on his face. He was emotionless and seemed to stare off into space. He didn’t even look or acknowledge her presence.

  “Black, what’s eating you?”

  He didn’t respond. Didn’t even bat an eyelash. What the hell was wrong with him? Enri turned her so that she was facing him and the look on his face would have made anyone scream, it was evil and beautiful, all at the same time. She hadn’t honestly looked at him before, and now she knew why. He was the most beautiful person in the entire universe. If that was even possible. So beautiful it hurt. It was the eyes that made you want to run screaming into the night. They were an otherworldly blue and full of so much despair and death, one could only see it as their death.

  “I’m going to give you something, and I want you to use it wisely because you only have one shot at this, do you understand?”

  No, she didn’t understand, but if it bought her a few more minutes of her life, she’d do whatever he asked.

  “I’m going to give you Draven back for five minutes, and in that time you will need to convince him of two things.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about? And who is Draven?”

  “Silly human,” he said to her in a deathly cold voice. “I know everything, Jesminda Zealand mate of Draven Stone.” He crossed his arms over his chest and raised a brow at her.

  “Do we have a deal?”

  A deal? She’d give her soul to have him back with her. She was about to nod her head yes, when he interrupted her again.