Eden's Pawn: Shadow Games Book 1

by C. B. Miller

  It turned out, the complication was she was still married, and I was the other man. She held me out at arms length, and kept me dangling on her leash. When her husband’s political aspirations, suddenly took a turn for the better, they made up and I finally realized what was going on. I was a little pissed at learning the woman had fallen in love with was married and she never once had attempted to divorce or even leave her husband. They offered me a buyout for my silence. and I politely accepted.

  I ‘ve been holding slowly donating that money to his political rivals every chance I get. .

  A flood of conflicting emotions washed over me as I stood outside her condo. This was her place, which she had kept after their marriage as a backup plan. Thinking of all the time I had spent there with her and then realizing the real reason why I couldn’t come over or spend certain nights with her filled me with fire. As much as the past angered me and attempted to distract me, this was not the time or place. I pushed it aside, funneling toward my current goal – finding Colin and killing him.

  Saving Shirene was just a means to an end.

  Silently, I walked up to their front door and looked at the new numeric lock on the front. They had one of those new doorbells with motion sensors, a built in camera and microphone, and would notify them that someone was at the door. I simply waved and smiled at the camera and punched in the code I’d used for over a year before realizing what it meant.

  The lock flashed green as I tapped in the last digit for their wedding anniversary and heard a satisifying ‘pfft’ of air as the door popped open.

  Gently, I pushed the door open and crept inside, beckoning Alex to follow. Things were much like I remembered. The condo had an open floor plan. There were a set of stairs on the far wall that lead up to the second floor which held two large bedrooms and a very nice bathroom I still secretly wanted to have in whatever place I managed to retire too. The hallway on the second floor overlooked the living room area, which made the living room the focus of the house in all ways. A dining room/kitchen area extended to our left and on the right were two doors. I knew one led to another bathroom, while the other was a bedroom turned into a study.

  I scanned the room, and it was easy to see that they hadn’t been here in a long time. The air in the room was stifling, stale, and smelled of old sweat and blood. Evidently, she hadn’t turned on the air as the Midwest fading summer heat gripped Chicago..

  “Gods this place stinks.” Alex said mimicking my thoughts. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she looked around the condo.

  Discarded clothes, used glassware, and dishes littered the room. What was visible of both couches and the loveseat were stained; The natures of which I didn’t want to investigate.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder and Alex spun me around. Looking me straight in the eye before I could reflexively look away she asked me. “How did you know the code to the door? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “It’s complicated but long and short this is my ex-girlfriend’s place., andno, I didn’t know she was married when we started dating. Like I said. It’s complicated.” I tried to look her in the eyes, but that entire situation was still something that stung. It was hard to say admit out loud about it to my close friends, not that really have any since starting to work for Eden. But this was what, day three of working with Alex? Not sure I am ready to bound with her over ex-girlfriend drama.

  Her eyes narrowed. “And how long ago did you two break up?”

  “Nineteen months ago, not that I am counting.”

  “And you happened to know the passcode to new locks? That’s all new security, c’mon Kaedin I am not an idiot.” She had a good way of using her words like a knife. I could feel our new found trust unravel with every word.

  I turned and looked at her. Stopping my search I made sure I had her attention before speaking. “They are creatures of habit and rather lazy. Tom couldn’t remember complex passwords worth a shit and Shirene wasn’t much better. I worked in IT before I started working with Eden and I had a shit ton of passwords to remember. Those type of things just sit in my head. Besides, that passcode is how i figured out that Shirene was married. Really, I was just counting on their laziness and inattention to detail. If I was going to betray you, there were tons of other opportunities and I certainly wouldn’t pick these guys over Eden. We could have just gone inside her place and that would have been the end of it.”

  The front door swung open behind Alex and I yelled out a warning as forms blurred through the opening

  Power flooded through me as I matched their speed, and the first vampire came into focus. A lithe young latina dashed forward, low to the groundwith a wicked looking blade held in a reverse grip. She was intent on Alex, coming in to slice her hamstrings and ran straight into my foot as I kicked her square in the face. There’s something to moving at vamp speed, or whatever it is really called where physics doesn’t really kick in. What I was taught physics in high school, both of us colliding should have been like two cars slamming into each other at 30 or 40 mile per hour with velocity equaling power or something like that.. Instead, she crumpled from the blow as it dislocated her jawand the knife clattered to the floor as she skipped across the floor to rest in front of Alex.

  Two more goons followed behind the first vampire. The lead one was a large albino man with a shaved head and sunglasses. He hurled a haymaker punch that sent me spinning through the air, and stars erupted in my vision as I slammed into a couch. A dull sensation followed the feel and sound of my rib cracking, and I had the vague sensation that someone rushed past us as I slumped to the floor. .

  Alex cried out in pain. A bolt of fear ran through me as I gathered my wits. She hadn’t had time to fully transform, and I had no idea if she could handle that sort of punishment without her magic. Mages after all were still human when it came to physical toughness. Even a lazy, doughy wight more durable than a seasoned mage. Just how we are made.

  I pushed off the floor with one hand, landed a few feet from the albino vampire who was raining blows into Alex’s gut. I spun lashed out in a spinning back kick and struck him solidly in the chest. I was rewarded with the snap of bone and the sudden thud and thunderous crack of him slamming into the wall across the room. My boot print left a perfect indent in the side of his chest..

  The vampire on the ground twitched, and I cartwheeled away as she leaped up with a rising uppercut. She snarled, baring her fangs at me while she sized me up. The albino vampire extracted himself from the drywall and it would be a matter of seconds before he was back in the fight. Alex laid on the floor unmoving.

  Sally Slasher as I came to think of her watched my eyes and followed by gaze down to Alex’s unmoving form on the ground. A wicked smile crossed her face at my realization Alex was down and out. She took her eyes off and a hungry look washed across her face as she looked at Alex.

  “I’m going to drain her in front of your useless ass, and then if you’re lucky, I’ll kill you swiftly.” She licked her lips and bent over Alex.

  I closed the distance between us in one large step. I summoned Erukzakir’s Judgment and it materialized in my hand as thrust it down into the back of Sally’s skull. The blade sank into her skull like a hot knife into warm butter to the hilt. I ripped the sword free and sent bits of bone and blood splattering through air as she sank to the ground.

  I flicked the blood from the blade and calmly stared the albino vampire down, “Tell Elizabeth you failed. You might live to see another night that way.” I challenged.

  “Still two to one whelp. Without the blade, you have nothing,” he sneered. He roared a challenge, and his broken ribs knitted together. What damage I had done to him was healed before my eyes over a few heartbeats.

  “I just see you and me moron. That’s an even fifty-fifty last I checked and I’m the one with an actual weapon. Either he’s busy doing something for Elizabeth and her masters or he ran. The odds are with me.” I pointed my blade at him and grinned.

  “Daddy said don’t
wager with dead men, you get the kiddy without the fuss that way.” He chided.

  I took a step closer, placing myself between Alex and my foe. There was a good four or five yards between he and I, and vampires could leverage their speed for longer periods of time than I could. It was exceptionally draining, even for those that whose talents leaned towards speed, and I was betting her didn’t want to expend that level of effort. As much as I didn’t want to admit, with Alex unconscious he did have the advantage. I had to protect her and that limited my options.

  Bruce leisurely cracked his knuckles and bared his fangs. It might have been terrifying when I was ten, but his display was B rate movie at best. It was almost like he didn’t realize I worked for a vampire, and I was used to seeing them hunt.

  That gave me an idea.

  I switched the dagger to my left and flicked a piece of his compariot’s flesh and blood at him, and braced myself.

  I was rewarded with a primal screen as he chargred me, his eyes going completely blood red in a frenzy. Where he had been a disciplined fighter before, able to leverage his intense speed with skill to land multiple viscious punches he simply attempted to shoot in on me and drag me to the ground. Which in a hand to hand fight with some rules to protect the grappler probably would be have been just fine. Probably would have been devastating with his speed. He might have even been a good grappler too, and then he could have put those fangs into me, draining me of the blood I actually use and need.

  But I was ready for him to do that.

  And I had a knife.

  As he came in, wrapping his arms around my midsection as his open mouth embraced the blade of the dagger I held. He slammed into me, a frieght train without a driver as he suddenly went limp as all vestiges of life left him and we crumpled to the floor in a heap. His lifeless body was surprisingly heavy as he covered most of me. His mass is what made his awkward however, he was just larger than me so lifting him up was awkward. I rolled over on top of him and used the blade to sever his head from his neck, ensuring he was really dead. Jumping to my feet I scaned the room. The last guy had to be around here somewhere.

  Wood snapped and broke apart upstairs followed by the faint sounds of cursing. I went over to check on Alex. All the training Eden’s master at arms had given me screamed to check on her after I dealt with the last vampire but that felt wrong.

  Crouching over her, positioned so the door and the stairs were visible I reached down to feel her face. Blood flowed freely from where he skin spit on her face and lips where the vampire had struck her. Her breathing was shallow, but steady so she didn’t seem like she was in any immediate danger. I had no idea what to do however, medic training wasn’t something in my wheelhouse. My mistress and her ilk were adept at repairing wounds and broken bones, using their flesh-crafting skills like magical medics. I had no idea if she would recover from this naturally or not.

  I studied the room for a few more seconds before getting to my feet.

  , I rushed up the stairs and followed the sounds of the vampire searching to Shirene’s bedroom. It was as I remembered with a four poster king size bed dominating the center of the room, two large dressers along the walls, and a chest at the foot of the bed. The chest was opened and on its side. A dresser flew across the room and shattered into several pieces. A small box sat on the bed next to the intruder. He flipped through a stack of papers, taking pictures of each page with his cell phone when I entered.

  I rushed him, bringing my blade up in a clean line to separate his head form his shoulder, and he looked up at me into my eyes as he uttered a command, “Stop.” His command rolled through my being and resonated in my soul. His power washed over me and demanded that my muscles to obey, that I halt immediately and submit. I halted in place, Erukzakir’s Judgment a few inches away from his neck.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He stood up and gently pushed the blade away from him. His gaze never left mine. His power curled up into my mind, willing me to remain right where I was.

  “Where is the box?” He commanded.

  A rush of power slammed against me again. Demanding I give him the answers he sought. I didn’t know what he was talking about. What box? Which box? How can I comply?

  “Which box?”

  Cocking his head slightly, he pursed his lips and made a tisk tisk noise.

  “Elizabeth needs the box promised to her by Colin. It’s here somewhere. Have you found the box Colin promised her?” With another force of will his words reach into me deeper.

  “What’s in the box?”

  He sighed. “That’s disappoint –.”

  It was all he got out as my left hand shot up and crushed his windpipe. His eyes widened in shock and terror flashed behind his eyes as I drove my sword through his ear hole, and the blade jutted out of opposite side of his headI gripped him by the hair with my free hand and pulled the blade free. The wound began to heal and his eyes flash open as sliced through his neck. His body fell to the floor with a thud as he stared at me lifelessly, his mouth gapping at me in surprise.

  He had touched me with his power and like every vampire before me it held me fast for nanoseconds before fading. I held back, hoping that he would reveal more of Elizabeth’s plan. Improvisation wasn’t my strong suit, and I didn’t know what box he was talking about, or why he thought I would know.

  “Well, that was dramatic.”

  I spun and saw Alex standing there. Most of her bruises and cuts had healed up, although there was a lot of discoloration. She leaned on the door in grimacing in pain as each breath tweaked her broken ribs. The thin smile plastered on her face however told me that she would be ok.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I returned her smile. “Maybe but can’t say he didn’t deserve it either. On the plus side he is looking for a box here, so I guess that’s on us now.”

  We searched the room for a few minutes and uncovered a trap door in the wood floor after moving the bed to a side wall. Why the hell would someone want to move the bed every time they needed to get to this hidey hole baffled both of us. That lead Alex and I to believe it was something valuable rather than necessary like a gun.

  Opening the trap door revealed a space two foot by two foot, just large enough for the lockbox within. , I pulled it out and cursed at the locking mechanism, and the lack of a key. It clicked open as wave of heat rolled off my amulet. Inside were a few pieces of folded paper. and a loose emerald. The papers it certified the emerald as being worth an obscene amount of money, especially given its size. Not that I know anything about gems, but it was looked valuable. I handed it to Alex. For all the loss of life and destruction this seemed like a drop in the ocean of karmic debt. I don’t spend that much of my salary, and I wasn’t really sure what wizards did for cash as I thought about it.

  What sucked the most is that now we had no idea what to do or where to go. Sure, Alex was in the high six-figures richer assuming she could sell it for the appraised value, but this was our only lead to find this Colin guy.

  “Well, this sucks. Zero freaking leads,” I said. I checked the fridge but evidently they hadn’t been here in awhile. Moldy leftovers in takeout containers and spolied milk greeted my senses when I opened it. The entire place had an abandoned feel to it.

  “Not really.” Alex held up a cellphone and was scrolling through it.

  “It was unlocked?” I almost couldn’t believe our luck.

  “Not exactly.” She said as she nudged the woman’s hand with her foot. I guess that is one way to get a fingerprint.

  “Tell you what, let’s do that on the move. Who knows when Elizabeth might get a bit worried her goons haven’t checked in or returned yet. Plus it seems they knew where we were going.”

  We drove around for a few minutes heading in random directions. It appeared we weren’t being followed but better safe than sorry. Alex worked furiously at the phone.

  “Find anything interesting?” I asked finally. Her silence was eating at my curiousity and my tone was a bit
sharper than I intended. She gave me a sideways look and returned to the phone.

  “Yeah, she knew six different Colin’s. Fortunately, it looks like she was a review junky and her location history shows pretty much everywhere she’s been. “

  A few moments later Alex yipped in victory. “Found them. You said Shirene’s husband was Tom, right? Well, I am willing to bet this T+C is them. It’s in a swanky neighborhood not that far from here too.”

  “Worth checking out.” I hit the gas and off we went through the night.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  We pulled up to a large multistory home with a fenced off yard, and enough off-street parking for at least eight cars. A dozen luxury cars were tightly packed into the space and along the drive, leaving no room for my vehicle. Every window in the house was lit, and flood lights bathed the lawn in their glow. Ruts in the lawn led up to Shirene’s blue and white SUV. Its lights were still on, and it was parked a few feet from the house.

  “This has to be the place. That’s Shirene’s car right there, and it looks like Elizabeth’s information was good too. Hey, you don’t happen to have one of those cool cloaking or invisibility spells like Rebecca did?”

  “Not really my thing. I’m not good at them and it’s draining. Something tells me I’m going to need to save my energy for a fight.”

  “Nah, I’m sure we’ll talk it out,” I laughed.

  “We didn’t talk about it, but I need to know how far you are willing to go in there.” Her voice was a whisper. “This Colin guy is responsible for my coven’s slaughter. I want answers why us, but only blood is going to pay that debt. If Tom or Shirene pick his side…” She trailed off as she stared at me with a hard expression on her face. She watched my body language as her unspoken words sank in.

  A memory of Megan’s body riddled with the Aezzai young underneath her skin flashed through my mind and I shuddered