Eden's Pawn: Shadow Games Book 1

by C. B. Miller

  “I want some answers too. Is Colin really guilty or is it the Aezzai pulling the threads of this web?”. Colin seemed like a douchebag but I don’t know if that really meant he was power-mad and deserved to die or if he was just another victim in the Aezzai’s clutches. Who knew if everything he did was of his freewill or not? Eden would probably just kill everyone and move on, but I wasn’t so sure that was the right thing either. The Aezzai had to die, but what about everyone else? .

  “That surprises me. I just watched you execute a vampire without batting an eye, and now you’re balking at Colin.” Her voice hardened a bit.

  “That was different than planning a murder. If I hadn’t acted, he was going to kill me and then many more. If there’s one thing I’ve learned recently is that vampires are different. They aren’t human, not anymore. You can’t rely on them possessing the common traits we call humanity. Their concepts of mercy and justice for instance are warped at least to me they are. Well umm maybe I’m a bad example now.”

  “ Hell, wight are different too. We are definitely changed by the process. We basically stop aging, it slows down so much that we might as well be just as immortal as a vampire. We have more than just a part of our patron’s power too, we get part of them. Their wants, desires, personality traits. It more than the taste of a vampire’s might that changes us..“ I put both of my hands on her shoulders.

  “I told you I’d help you and I am going to keep my word. Killing people, real people with families and lifespans that will naturally end, is something I can do but I don’t really want to.I would like to spare as many of those people in there as possible. Not just Tom and Shirene, but all of them, including Colin if he isn’t acting of his own free will. Tell you what. If they try to kill us, we will kill them right back first. OK?”

  She nodded and sat up a bit straighter. She must think of me as some bloodthirsty killer like my patron. It never dawned on me that her power might be a burden and that taking a life was difficult. Alex may not be a blood thirsty creature like the vampires I am used to dealing with. I always assumed it was just revenge and I would do my best to spare those I could.

  Revenge or justice? Is there a difference?

  I shook away the thoughts, and took in several deep breaths.

  “Ready?”

  I parked on the street and foregoing any pretense of stealth sprinted up to the house. Despite the house party appearance, the only noise was the sound of the grass crunching under our feet as we approached. We ran around Shirene’s car, and the front door was wide open. We both skidded to a stop, and I waited while Alex scanned the entryway. A few moments later she signaled it was clear of magical wards, and slipped into the building.

  I half-expected the place to be filled with spider webs and Aezzai young as I entered. Instead, the house was brightly lit, silent, and devoid of life. The living room spread out to my left, while ahead of me, the entryway turned into a hallway leading deeper into the house. A spiral staircase rose up to my right. The plush white carpeting covering everything show signs of recent heavy traffic, all of which led into the living room.

  . There were a few appetizer plates on the coffee table with half eaten food covering them. Mixed throughout the room were at least twenty plus empty wine and whiskey glasses on virtually every flat surface left in the room.

  Alex tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up the stairs. She cupped her hand behind her ear and looked up the stairs.

  I strained to hear the faint sounds of conversation and people moving around coming from the floor above. I motioned first to the living room, and then upstairs questioningly to Alex.

  She mouthed, “Upstairs first.”

  The carpet absorbed the sound of our footfalls as we crept up the stairs slowly. The staircase continued up to the third floor and the sounds grew louder as we reached the second floor. I stepped off on to the landing, a small circular area with hallways coming off it to the left, right, and center. A small table holding a few leather bound journals and plush chair were set back against the wall.

  The sounds of people moving around around were clearer distinct but I still could make out what they were saying.The voices came from the hallway to our right. Doors lined both sides and the walls were covered in brown scrawling scripts that looked like the work of small drunken children..

  The voices grew louder as we approached, and the air grew thick, warm, and humid. A trickle of sweat dripped down my forehead as I reached for the door handle and I paused.

  “Come, he waits... we should wait.” Man’s voice mumbled.

  “Yes! Wait we can’t!” A woman’s shrill voice answered him. There was an omnious thump followed by a low groan.

  “Don’t go... the water is too cold still. Momma said we can’t go in cold water.” A younger male voice added.

  “He waits. Water or not must wait.” The first man continued to mumble.

  Thick metal on thick metal clanked infrequently inside the room. A fourth person whispered something but it was drowned out by the other three. Shaking my head, I relaxed my entire body, and placed my hand on the door handle. A touch on my shoulder stopped me.

  Alex shook her head slowly.

  “I don’t think the Aezzai or Colin are in there,” She whispered.

  I let go of the handle, and Alex grunted as something plowed into her from behind. She didn’t budge as a small, wiry man wrapped her waist and tried to drag her to the ground. Her eyes flashed in anger as she looked down at the arms gripping her. He clung to her awkwardly for a moment, uselessly tugging on her like she weighed a thousand pounds, before she elbowed his head. The man’s arms went limp as he slammed into the wall, and slid down, leaving a streak of yellow blood on it as he slumped to the ground. The voices in the room ceased at the sound of him thudding against the wall.

  The left side of his skull was cracked, yellow blood trickling from where Alex’s elbow struck him. The other side of his head was flattened from the impact with the wall, and more blood seeped from the wound.. His mouth had been sealed, white and red threads stitching his lips tightly together. The flesh had healed around the threads long ago, no signs of redness or even the white of recently healed wounds.

  “That’s different,” I murmured as Alex kneeled next to him and began examining him.

  Inside the room, the conversation resumed, and I let gently let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.

  She pointed at him and made a thumbs down. I motioned for her to follow, and we crept back to the landing.

  “He’s not human anymore, or at least not fully human. He’s something else, like the Wretched you spoke over earlier. He’s unconscious, but I don’t think he’ll survive those wounds. I didn’t hit him that hard either.” She said softly.

  “Last time they seemed like they were falling apart as they moved, that might be a side effect.

  She nodded and pointed up the stairs. “I think we will find more of the same on this floor, we should check the third floor.”

  “Probably. I have a bad feeling that we are just going to find something more fucked up. Like a room full of people in the state we found Megan in.” It was a horrible thought but I wanted Alex to consider that possibility. It scared the hell out of me. What if we found a room where one or more of those things had hatched? Considering they consumed their brothers and sisters in a battle royal survival of the fittest, what did they do with the rest of their host’s body once they had emerged.

  The stairs ended in the center of a massive round room. Hanging from the vaulted ceiling were tunnels, platforms, planks, and other structures with no discernible rhyme or reason to their placement or construction materials. Wood, plastic, carpet, and cloth all seemed to be equally viable materials sometimes solely one type or composites. Temporary walls of varying heights scattered throughout the room created a maze and obscured much of the far walls.

  “Really?”

  “I had expected more bedrooms and an office or two up here. Maybe a nice b
athroom and the master suite. A crazy cat lady palace was much further down on the list.” Alex whispered.

  “Looks like a cat palace but I doubt there are any in here. Shirene is allergic to cats.” I said furrowing my brow.

  “Which way then?”

  “A.G.L. then.” I said.

  “A.G.L.? Alex asked, perplexed.

  Chuckling I said. “Always Go Left. Just a funny rule gaming rule.” I turned and looked at her. “ I bet you don’t get much time to play games.” Smiling, I wove through the maze taking every left turn as we came upon one until we winded our way to the far wall. Much to my annoyance, the edge of the room was not a clear line that we could simply follow around the edge and presumably to any other rooms on the third floor. We resumed our silent walk, the wall to our left and reentered the maze. I stopped two steps later as a low moaning filled the room. Three Wretched rounded the corner in front of me and Alex swore behind me.

  A high-pitched voice broke over the moans from above us, “Dinner?”

  I glanced up and gapped in horror as an Aezzai poked its child-like face out the tunnel above us. Its body was nearly three-foot in diameter as it pulled itself out and scuttled above us on the ceiling. Its red eyes went wide and drool dripped from its jaws at the sight of us.

  Erukzakir’s Judgment materialized in my hands as the Wretched charged forward.

  Alex laughed and she leaped away from me, and the sound of flesh ripping open and blood splurting from wounds erupted behind me. The first Wretched was nearly on me and I cleaved its head from its shoulder, twisting to place my back against a maze wall. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Alex wading into a group of Wretched and tearing them apart. Each of her four arms ended in spade-like blades, which she used to cut through the creatures with lethal efficiency like a goddess of war.

  The other two Wretched pounced, one high and the other low, and reached out with clawed hands at me. A high kick caught one in the chest and sent it flying over me head and the barrier while I stabbed low. My blade entered the thing’s head and it shuttered for a moment before going limp. I looked back and Alex finished dispatching the last Wretched. Yellow gore splattered the walls, ceiling, and floor around her and dripped from her blades. She leaned to the side, straining to hear something. Alex turned towards me and pointed up.

  The Aezzai disappeared.

  “We need to go. There are a lot more of those Wretched coming for us.”

  “No need for stealth now, so if we can’t go around - ”

  “Go through.” Alex said and charged through the thin wooden wall made up the maze. The cracking wood echoed through the room as she crashed through another barrier.

  “Go over or through. It’s go over or through.” I muttered and glanced down at the carnage she left behind. I was starting to understand why Eden warns us about mages and magic.

  I followed her through the path she cut through the maze. we moved as fast as we could towards the edge of the room and then turned left bashing through more of the maze walls while Wretched gave chase. I laughed that the fact Alex was still keeping to my ‘always go left’ rule. A hallway opened up in the wall ahead and halted at the entrance.

  The chamber beyond looked like a fitness gym at first glance but the crimson stain of the hardwood floor hinted at something more sinister. Machines and what looked like weight racks were randomly spaced throughout the room, and mirrors lined the walls. The racks didn’t hold weights. Instead, they were filled with shiny cutting instruments and restraints. The dismembered remains of men and women were strapped to the almost half of the machines.

  The Wretched following us held back at the maze’s end and gathered together as they silently watched us.

  “Those things are aren’t that smart, I think there’s something else in that torture chamber, Kaedin. I can feel it. It’s trying to hide but I can still feel it’s lifeforce in the room.” Alex said.

  “Is it the Aezzai?”

  “Maybe. I don’t think so.” Alex looked around, straining to find some sign of movement or anything else that might break the unknown creature’s veil.

  “Can you handle those things?” I jerked my thumb back at the Wretched.

  She flexed all four arms and grinned. “Of course.” Her eyes narrowed and she frowned.

  “What are you going to do?” She whispered.

  “Something probably very dumb, but it’ll draw whatever’s inside out.”

  I padded into the room and scanned the area. The smell of death was faint in the room, and the air was still, not a hint of movement as I came up to the first device. The top half of a man was strapped to the device, strung up by his arm, his eyeless gaze focused on the center of the room. I twisted, following the direction of he was looking in and noticed in the center of the room was a small hole. Whisps of gray webbing surrounded the edges and the crimson stains surrounding it grew darker closer to the hole.

  Alex bellowed a challenge, and the sound of battle rang out as the Wretched charged. Cloth tore as claws ripped through my shirt and into my flesh. Something heavy dropped onto my back and I stumbled as it latched onto me.

  “We sees you.... joins us... pleases. Yous last. Sees we could... Need yous skin, yes…” A hot fetid breath filled the air as it whispered in my ear. The Aezzai was latced on to my back and I could feel its otherworldliness. Everything about it felt wrong.

  A strand of webbing hung from the ceiling above me, and I cut through it with my blade as I through myself to the ground on my back. The Aezzai hopped away just as I crashed to the ground, and I rolled back to my feet. It blurred through the air and slammed into me, all eight of its clawed legs biting deep into my flesh and drove me back to the ground. Erukzakir’ Judgment flew from my grasp and immediate disappeared.

  “Strongs yous are.... tests.... yous tests, Yes?” Its breathe reeked like a combination of raw sewage cheap cologne.

  My stomach twisted in knots as I tried not to puke, and I wiggled my right hand free..

  “Why you mad, bro?” I replied.

  It paused in confusion, shifting its weight slightly on my chest leaning a bit closer.

  I pulled the flare gun from my side and thrust it into the Aezzai’s human-like face. A jet of flame lanced through the creature’s head as I squeezed the trigger. Heat washed over me and singed my hand as it roared back in pain. It skuttled away from and I followed it keeping the blast of fire focused on it. A few seconds later the flame sputtered out and the Aezzai’s headless body smoldered on the floor. I dropped the weapon and kicked its corpse.

  The flare gun was probably the most useful piece of equipment in the care package because it wasn’t a flare gun. It was miniature one-shot flame thrower that just looked like the relatively non-lethal flare gun. It was possible to kill someone with a flare, but it was unlikely. Still fire is fire, and I had hoped to use this against the Aezzai behind everything, not one of its younglings. It seemed that Marku’s fear that it had already bred was true and if the legends were true that meant there were more of Aezzai young around.

  The sounds of fighting in the maze died off and Alex walked out covered in Wretched ichor.

  “I think that’s all of them.” She rejoiced.

  Chapter Thirty

  I stared at Alex in awe. For all her hestitancy to kill, she was a killing machine. She held off six Wretched and whatever ‘Barry’ was and was barely hurt. She wasn’t even winded.

  “It looks clear up here but I am pretty hurt. This will heal completely in a few hours but I doubt we have that much time.” I held up my arms as the bleeding slowed from a stream to a trickle. The holes were slowly closing thanks to my patron’s gifts, but I could still look through them at Alex.

  Alex took a look at the Aezzai’s corpse and back me. She nodded in appreciation. “I’m glad neither of us decided to do this on our own.”

  “Same.” I grinned.

  She came closer and grabbed my left arm. Putting one hand on each side of the wound she chanted lightly. An
green glow sprang from her hands and my forearm was on fire. I hadn’t expected it and I cried out in pain at first but I didn’t try to remove my arm from her grasp. Ten second of excruciating pain later the glow faded and she removed her hands. The wound was healed completely. She held my arm up, twisting, turning, and poking it for a few more seconds before letting go.

  “Huh, wights do heal fast. That was easy. Your other arm please.”

  She repeated the process again. This time I didn’t yelp, but it turns out magical healing is one of the most painful experiences ever.

  “Now you can’t whine about being useless and sticking to the sidelines.” She grinned.

  We spent a few minutes checking out the torture chamber. As we examined the machines and their unfortunate inhabitants it looked like they were more of science experiments. Limbs were added or removed, the same with organs. It looked like there was even an attempt at a head transplant. I realized with horror that I recognized these poor souls.

  “This was Nigel’s pack. The Manticores. These were all vampires.” I murmured.

  Alex pointed to a dismembered body and shook her head. “Not all vampires. I recognize him. He was a were-tiger, friendly to our circle. He’s been missing for three weeks.” Moisture formed at the edges of her eyes.

  “Well, now we know what happened to all those that vanished.”

  We descended back to the main floor. Walking through the main room we came to hallway that joined the kitchen and an open door half-way down that lead downstairs to the basement. Approaching we could hear the din of conversation and the unmistakable grunts and moans of bodies writhing together in the throes of lust. From the sounds it was a large number of people which matchedscene in the main room.

  “Well at least they are busy.” I rolled my eyes and gagged.

  “Eww? You, you don’t think this is how Megan was... infested do you?” Alex looked almost sick at the thought. It hadn’t occurred to me but thinking about it I really didn’t want to walk in on a giant spider thing having sexy time with a bunch of people.