“Did you forget about me?” I heard Coal grumble as he gently shut the door and started to follow me. I laughed and carried on, ignoring him. If he insisted on coming, fine, didn’t mean I had to acknowledge him. Thankfully, he stayed a respectable distance behind me so that he wouldn’t cramp my style.
“Nice ride!” A man called from across the street. “I’ve got something you might like a little better.” I peeped the blonde man grabbing his dick as he winked at me.
“Sorry, babe, not my type. I like my lays with a little more vagina.” I laughed when his eyes widened with excitement.
“I can make that happen if that's what you’re into.” Curious, I almost took him up on his offer. I’d love to see what he had in mind––who––he had in mind. I had to give it to him, he was quite the looker with his shaggy blonde hair and fierce blue eyes. He reminded me of a mixture of both Colin and Michael. But he was a little too drunk, and my shadows weren’t interested. They needed tending to before I could focus on anything else.
“Maybe some other time, stud.” A possessive growl rumbled through the buildings. I whipped my head around, glaring at Coal.
Clearly, the blonde human had no idea what Coal was and was too drunk to be scared of his size when he dished out a promise, “I’ll hold you to that.”
“Only if you pin me down when I come, babe.” Coal shook his head, displeased. The blonde laughed like your typical surfer dude and slapped his buddy on the shoulder. The two stumbled off chuckling and whooping and hollering as they made their way down the street. Clearly, I was the most exciting thing they’d seen all night. Poor saps. Life must be so boring as a human.
When the street cleared, I backed myself into the shadows that an 1800s brick building cast over the sidewalk. I closed my eyes and held out my arms. I inhaled, feeling my feet leave the ground, my body light as a feather. Coal grunted, his eyes flicked around as he searched the night for me. I laughed to myself. That's what you get, jerk.
Air wound itself between every cell of my being as I drifted apart, becoming one with the shadows. I moved across the city, vibrating with bass, flowing with the breeze, and melting through the streets. My shadows cast over everything, covering every inch of darkness they could find.
The city was surprisingly quiet. My shadows moved faster, carrying me deeper and deeper into the concrete jungle until we crossed over into uncharted territory. The air was a little thicker here, filled with the stench of rot and decay and a little sewer. Trashed littered the streets, clogging the drains with plastic cups and old newspapers. Rats skittered about, scurrying away when they felt my presence. They did their best, but they couldn’t hide in shadows when the very thing that hunted them was the shadows themselves.
Shadows reached, spreading me thin, moving from alleyway to alleyway in search of something to snatch.
The familiar sweetness of fear stopped me dead in my tracks. I reigned in the reach of my shadows, forcing my cells back together. The scent of adrenaline was strong, sweet like sugar. Feminine.
Pheromones flowed in behind the adrenaline. Perfect. A horny male was failing to score and took it upon himself to get his rocks off somewhere. I just had to find him. The shadows swirled at my feet, crawling over my body in a frenzy. They clawed their way through the air eager to feed on the fear.
I followed the stench of humans. It led me a couple alleys over to an old run-down building. The mortar between the bricks had given up, causing the dark blocks to collapse on themselves. The massive holes in the wall allowed the moonlight to filter through, casting shadows on bits of wood and concrete cluttering the walkways. Old shelving units and other large furniture pieces created a maze that my shadows were happy to wind themselves around.
I heard the heavy breathing first, then the garbled cry for help. The woman screamed. Echoes bounced through the bare-bones shell of a building, and I inhaled, filling my lungs with her spicy scent. My shadows lashed out, bathing in the lust the male was dishing out. They swirled and dove, cruising closer still.
Melting into the shadows deep within a corner of the building, I watched as a dark-haired male, with his pants around his ankles, fondled the crying female. Snot ran from her nose, coating her lips as it blended with her tears.
Her face was puffy and red, her eyes bloodshot from crying and perhaps from the hand strangling her. Her silver sequined dress was torn, exposing her breasts, and the bottom had been hiked up, revealing pink lace panties that had been pushed to the side for easier access.
She screamed for help at the top of her lungs. Nothing came out but a sob and a wheeze. “Shut up!” he bellowed, his voice frantic as he squeezed her neck harder. She struggled for air, gurgling on the spit building up in her mouth.
My shadows leaped for him, wrapping around his legs. Visions of his hopes for the night flashed in my mind—previous evenings out on the town where he ended up in buildings similar to this. Countless females lost their innocence, while some lost their lives. Disgusting fantasies, even for little old soulless me crossed his mind. He was a demented little perv. He took and took and took, unable to contain his lust for fear and women––something we had in common. Another whiff of the luscious, heady scent had my head whirling for that high.
I stepped from my place, revealing myself. He didn’t stand a chance against me even without my shadows, but he shot me a smug look, keeping his surprise at bay.
“And just who might you be?”
“I think I’m lost, and I was wondering, could you help me find my way?” My shadows scanned the air around me, whipping and snapping at him. They tightened their grip on his legs, keeping him in place. I searched for his deepest fear, the skeletons in his closet.
“Get lost bitch. Can’t you see we’re busy here?” The girl whimpered, and I sent her a wink. He tightened his hold on her neck. Her eyes bulged, and she tried to say something, shooting little drops of spit onto her lips instead. “What, are you some Good Samaritan trying to save the day or something?”
“No, I’m hungry.” I let my shadows loose. They whirled and spiraled, crawling up the creep's body. I dove in, absorbing everything there was to know about him. Every sin, every dark thought, all came rushing to me. Bingo.
Every fear pushed to the forefront, including monsters under the bed and the tooth fairy.
Wait, the tooth fairy?
Was he afraid of the tooth fairy? Wuss, who’s afraid of the tooth fairy?
Clowns, now that was something to fear, clowns are creepy, but the tooth fairy? C’mon, dude. I guess he didn’t much like the idea of someone coming into his house that didn’t first ring the doorbell … Funny how that worked.
I searched deeper and deeper, sifting through his every memory until I found a little boy, about five years old, crying on the front steps of a Brownstone. He watched as his mother lifted five suitcases into a cab and drove off without even a goodbye. That same little boy standing in a bathroom, blood everywhere, his dad laying sprawled out on the floor. His throat slit, a note was resting on the edge of the counter. Loneliness fell like a stone in my heart, adding to the emptiness that Coal had left. Tears crowded my vision as the little boy wept for the loss of his parents.
Abandonment. Loneliness. Loss. He was afraid of being alone. A fear I knew all too well.
But that still didn’t mean he could go around sticking his dick in everyone. Eventually, one was going to bite back.
Well, maybe not.
But I would.
I replayed the images I saw in his mind. He stared off absently as they played for him on repeat, over and over until he could barely breathe. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. He fell to his knees sobbing, screaming out for his mommy. Shadows engulfed him and absorbed the fear that rolled off of him.
My shadows fed and fed as his will to live dwindled. He called out to his mother, begging her to come back, and when she didn’t, he started searching his pockets and pulled out a pocketknife.
The shadows swam, shrouding him in dark
ness. The darkness grew and grew until even the moonlight dimmed. I relished in the sustenance my shadows absorbed. His fear was like candy … or wait, maybe that belonged to the girl. In my high, I glanced at her. Her once red face was pale, her eyes wide as she stared at me.
“Wha—what the hell are you?” she croaked.
“Shadow, stop,” Coal demanded and started to pull, but I was too far gone, lost in my meal. Enjoying the surge of power it gave me. My nerves buzzed with electricity, my cells sated as we pulled, sucked, and coaxed the life from the humans. I felt unstoppable, on top of the world. Almost ready for what was to come, though I’d need more if I were to take on Daddy confidently. “Shay!”
I snapped back to reality, squinting at Coal. I had forgotten all about him.
Shit, I was overdoing it again. Damn it.
Death was not supposed to happen tonight.
I called for my shadows, reeling them in, but it was too late. Creep switched open the blade and drew it across his throat, slicing from one ear to the other. He slumped forward, making a whole bunch of garbled sounds as he fell.
The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice definitely working this time. I tried to plaster a smile on my face to help calm her down, but it didn’t work. Her face twisted in horror. That wasn’t very nice. I had a pleasant smile. My shadows danced about, taking it all in. Everything the girl had to give as a new wave of fear flowed from her, piss and all. Then, she clutched at her chest and coughed, dropping to her knees.
Heart attack.
Fucking A. Too far. I always took it too damn far. I kicked at a cracked, red plastic cup and slapped my hand on my thigh.
“Shay, what the hell were you thinking?” I watched as the girl took her last breath, and a teeny ounce of remorse trickled through me. And I mean teeny, minuscule. I was ready to give Coal an excuse, but it died on the edge of my lips. His face was riddled with disappointment. I scrunched my lips and wrinkled my nose as anger bubbled beneath my surface.
Damnit all to hell.
“Sorry?” I lifted both hands, palms up at my shoulders, and shrugged. Coal ran a hand down his face and sighed heavily. I lowered my head like a scolded dog, wondering if this is what it felt like to sit in the principal's office.
“We’ve got to ge—” His words broke off as he turned to the sound of clicking heels down the alleyway and a slow drug-out clapping of hands.
“Bravo, that was something spectacular.” A gorgeous redhead about five foot nine came strolling down the pathway, clapping her hands and sporting a blood-red grin. Her eyes were green and glowing, even in the darkness. A white tank top hugged her body tight and exposed the creamy globes of her breasts. Black leather coated her shapely, long legs, and she wore red stiletto boots that climbed to her knees. Thick wavy locks the color of a blazing bonfire swung to meet her hips.
Drool-worthy didn’t even begin to describe her. She was sex on a stick. Her entire body was just waiting to be licked. I wiped at the drool forming in the corners of my mouth and glanced over at Coal, my eyebrows wagging. Lips pressed together, his head shook back and forth, slowly like a sloth letting me know he was disgusted with me and not in the mood for my foolery, as usual.
“You have no soul,” she said. A sparkle glinted in her green eyes, and her mischievous smile widened her scarlet lips. Coal grunted, and this time it sounded like a grunt of agreement. Though when he looked at her, it was painfully obvious he did not like her being there. I tried to get a read on if he recognized her or not, but his scowl was too deep.
“Well now, that's just not nice. I have a soul.” I crossed my arms over my inadequate chest and shot her a pointed look. A moment of silence passed, and I rolled my eyes with a huff. “Okay, clearly, I’m struggling with the whole soul thing, but I’m working on it.” She laughed and shifted a stiletto to lean a hip against the decaying building as she studied the dead bodies at my feet. “Just who might you be?”
“The Princess of the Underside.”
“Well damn.”
15
I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but we ended up back at my apartment. Coal took up the couch, as usual, and he hadn’t said a word. He just followed the woman around with his eyes, never letting her out of his sight. The actual princess, I learned was Scylla, leaned casually against the door frame to my bedroom. Why she chose my bedroom is beyond me. I’ll admit, it had my mind wandering a bit, but it's not like she wasn’t right in the room with us. I paced restlessly, five steps by five steps.
“So, you’re alive,” I said in disbelief as I turned back the way I came. The room was tense, mainly because of me.
“For the third time, yes.” Scylla pushed off the door frame and made her way to lean against the bar top.
I was edgy and unsure of what was happening, and it wasn’t a good feeling. Two people I barely knew were in my apartment. One that could put a hurting on me, and one that knew my background, and let’s be honest, who knew what she was capable of doing to me. She had knowledge I didn’t even know existed. Granted, I didn’t know if I could believe her but seeing as no one knew what happened to the child, it's a good possibility she was who she says she was.
An eerie feeling cascaded through me that had me questioning everything that was going on. It just didn’t feel right. Of course, I wanted everything to be right and it all to work out. Who wouldn’t want to know more about one’s past if they could? But this just felt too good to be true. Coal and I talked about a dagger that we wanted to find, but we needed Daddy’s blood to do it, and now, in walks, not only his genetics that could show us where the dagger was, but the one being that could kill him? The actual future of the Underside should she be able to beat him. Something just seemed fishy about the whole scenario. Who was this woman? Why was she here, out of the blue? Could we believe a word she said, or would she lead us into a trap? Was she working with Daddy, or Lucifer perhaps?
I wouldn’t be fooled. Not if I could help it.
“And where the hell have you been all this time? Why now?” My tone was much more accusatory than I meant for, but what could I say? Let’s jump into bed together and be the best of buds? I wasn’t very good at human contact.
Well, jumping into bed didn’t sound so bad if we did it literally, though. I could show Scylla a few things she might like. I shook my head, clearing the off-the-wall thoughts. Though, they weren’t that out of sequence for me. I’m pretty sure I was an unaltered male dog in a past life, as much as I thought about sex. Now was not the time to be distracted by just how much sexy was in the room.
“Living my life. What else would I be doing?” she replied curtly and tipped over on the other hip.
“How are you living your life? You’re what, three thousand years old. Are you living as a human?”
“What the hell do you think? I didn’t exactly have Daddy there to help me out. I’m supposed to be dead. So, yes, I have lived on this earth for a little over three thousand years. I can’t travel between realms and can barely use any magic because I will be detected. And until—” Her sentence cut off abruptly as if she felt she was about to share something she shouldn’t have. “It’s been very boring, to say the least.”
“And what have you been doing all this time?” I asked.
“For the last forty or fifty years, I’ve been a bounty hunter. With my powers, it comes easily.” I rolled my eyes, not in the mood for games. Unusual, because normally I would be all about shooting the shit and being a dick back, but I wanted no part of it. And from the looks of Coal, he didn’t either. Which was ninety percent of the time anyway, but when he was in a real good mood, I could at least get a few good snarky comments out of him. This was not one of those moods. This bitch knew exactly what I was asking and decided to play dumb and give me some bullshit answers.
It all felt way too fabricated.
“No, I mean, what have you been doing that would lead you to find me? No one finds me. No one knows about me.” I spelled it out for her.
“And why is that?”
“Well, because our father has had you hidden, of course. His secret weapon tucked away on the topside where no one can get to her. She picks off his souls, filling his cages, and no one thinks twice about it.” Disdain was thick like molasses in her voice, and she was all but rolling those emerald eyes
I ignored her distaste for me. I’d be jealous, too, if the shoe were on the other foot. It’s only a natural reaction. “Why can they find me now?”
“Because you’ve become too powerful … Hades lifted his spells on you,” she drawled and raised a brow as if I should’ve had the answer to that question.
“And he’s hoping since Coal can’t kill me, that someone else might find me and do the job for him,” I finished for her. Coal inhaled slowly, precisely, and he was pinning me with his eyes. He didn’t like what I just said. Much like our game of pool, he was telling me how to play this game. Right. I needed to be careful with just how much information I gave out.
“Exactly. Just like Hades did with me, he wants his hands clean of the kill if he can help it.”
“But he’s planning on using the Granite Brotherhood to kill me the day after next.” Coal pursed his lips and gave a slight eye roll. Damn it. I just need to stop talking, apparently. I wasn’t good at this evil mastermind BS.
“That's because he needs you gone, but he wasn’t able to gather the Brotherhood until then. In the meantime, he brought down all the spells he’s used to hide you over the years, hoping someone will take you out before things get messy.”
“But why does he want me gone?” Comfortable wasn’t exactly the word I would use to explain how I felt with how much knowledge she had of my life and future. In fact, it was downright nauseating how much she knew of me when I didn’t even know she existed. I wasn’t as sneaky with my time as I thought I was.
Pawns Daughters of The Underworld Book 1 Page 14