Shadow of the Apocalypse

by D. L. Harrison

  She took a deep breath, she was a hot mess.

  “Anyway,” she said, “It’s obvious which ones are the rogues, they delight in causing pain and taking lives. If I had to compare it to an emotion, it’s a sadistically twisted joy from their black hearts. I’m grateful I can’t feel those emotions, because the vibes and intentions are bad enough.”

  He nodded, “I’m a little jealous, and grateful at the same time I don’t have that ability. Your strength and grace amaze me.”

  He opened her door, and she slipped into the passenger seat. Then he was looming above her, as he took the seatbelt and clipped her in.

  She smirked, “I think I could handle that.”

  He smiled, “Probably, but this way I can steal a kiss.”

  Then he did, he stole a kiss, and quite thoroughly. It curled her toes.

  He stood back up and shut the door, then rounded the car and got in.

  “What happened to not touching me?” she asked teasingly, and still a little breathless.

  He shrugged, “I suspect I’ll fail a lot at that.”

  She snickered.

  As if to prove his point, he took her hand in his and entwined their fingers. His thumb started making circles on her skin, and it felt far too intimate and sensual for merely holding hands.

  He started the car, and then drove them over by the loop where the orange line came in.

  “If they make it all the way, we’ll get on if they don’t get off. We’ll ride it around to get back to the car if we have to.”

  She nodded.

  “Sounds good, if they get off early I’ll let you know, and give you directions.”

  Their words and plans were kind of obvious, but it helped to get her mind in the game. She still felt enthralled to his touch and presence, but their teasing and kissing needed to be put on hold. She knew it wouldn’t put out the fire so to speak, it would simmer in the background and perhaps even grow in intensity, but her focus needed to be on the hunt.

  To do otherwise would be risking his and her life, and stupid.

  Of course, his amorously charged emotions weren’t making that easy for her, the admiration and respect he felt for her mixed in with those sensually passionate emotions just made it worse, and she imagined her thoroughly aroused scent wasn’t making it easy for him either. Still, it was both a little frustrating and fun, putting it off for just a little bit longer, lengthening out the anticipation of the culmination of their date, and hopefully their night together. The first of what she hoped were many.

  The sexual tension was high in their silence, but both of them stayed quiet trying to get their libidos under control. Two soul eaters without a witch to hide them were still extremely dangerous, they could eat her spells, and if old enough would shrug off her emotional attacks. They’d be wicked fast, as fast as her and Jacob were. A moment of distraction would be all it took to give a soul eater an opening to take her life.

  Easier prey was a relative thing, and mostly about the fact they couldn’t elude her ability to feel and track them. They wouldn’t be able to hide or run like Jenna the warlock had been able to, but they were still deadly. Especially if the bastards felt them coming, if they gave some clue as to their intentions in their emotions.

  She was confident, just cautious enough not to be over-confident. The excitement of the coming hunt and challenge also mixed with her other excited feelings, which was a rush. She was pretty high on life in that moment, and she felt… sexy and a little deliciously wicked about it all.

  She pushed that out of her head, it was time to move.

  “They can’t be more than a stop or two away.”

  He grunted, and they both got out of the car, and ran for the stairs leading up to the tracks…

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  He asked, “Plan?”

  She blushed, “Couple in love of course. I think we can pull that off in the moment, don’t you?”

  He cleared his throat, and she turned away when they got lost in each other’s eyes for a moment.

  “Yes, that should work just fine,” he said in an almost bewildered tone as he took her hand.

  She felt self-conscious and hoped he didn’t run for the hills. Why on earth did she say that, she could have said lust, or out on a hot date, did she have to say love? Still, he was holding her hand, wasn’t he? She didn’t feel him panicking either, so maybe it’d be okay.

  The plan was obvious of course, if they appeared absorbed in each other, and the soul eaters picked up their lust for each other, they wouldn’t be expecting an attack, even if their excitement for battle showed through a little bit.

  He said, “I didn’t bring a weapon.”

  She nodded, “Me either. I guess I need a thigh sheath before our next date,” she quipped.

  He chuckled.

  She said, “Hmm, they’re male and female, is that rare?”

  He shrugged, “Yes. Most male soul eaters prefer to rape, eat, and terrorize their female victims. To find a woman that would be okay with that sort of thing and enjoy it, maybe even join in, is what makes it so rare I think. That, and most male soul eaters are… let’s go with chauvinistic, while the rogue females are usually man-eaters.”

  She sighed, “The Bonnie and Clyde of soul eaters?”

  That kind of thing was rare in human criminals too, she imagined it was probably the same in their supernatural world.

  He snorted, “Something like that.”

  That conversation helped a lot with the libido issue, and she felt frosty and a bit disgusted by what monsters their prey were. Still, she was painfully aware of her hand in his, and knew that libido would not only relight but do so explosively when the time was right.

  The train pulled in, and they waited a moment.

  She squeezed his hand, and she led him forward into the car. It was obvious they weren’t getting off, and she didn’t want to say it out loud. She looked around the car, and didn’t see them at all, but they were very close.

  She nodded toward the back of the train.

  He smiled, and then led the way as they moved into the next car.

  That got their quarry within emotional range, and she felt excitement go through her at the hunt, the danger, and even the upcoming violence. By human standards, she supposed that made her a monster as well, except she fought and killed to protect. It was a calling, to take down the wicked, and those that would prey upon humanity, she didn’t feel like a monster at all. It was a righteous anger and excitement that moved her to shed the blood of her enemies.

  She’d be disgusted by the idea of committing violence against an innocent, either human or supernatural, that made all the difference in her mind. Being in her emotional range of hearing so to speak, she had their location locked down far better.

  “Next car,” she whispered.

  He nodded, and they moved into the next car.

  She smiled up at him, and she felt a surge of lust she desperately tried to control. It was a great cover, she just hoped it didn’t distract them too much.

  The two soul eaters gave them a dismissive glance. They were both extremely attractive, the man had blond hair and gray eyes, and the woman had reddish brown hair a little darker than her own, and bright green eyes. She also guessed they were older, the man was wearing a suit, so probably a good guess. Newborn soul eaters in this age tended to dress a lot more informally. The woman had on a gorgeous green dress that brought out her eyes, it hugged her curves, but was loose enough at the same time to be considered conservative.

  They looked like any other couple out on a night on the town.

  Unfortunately, there were also five other humans. A woman in a business suit who must’ve been working late tonight, and four teens who looked like they might be a part of a gang. They all wore similar colors, and they put off a vibe of restrained violence.

  She took his lead when he led her to a seat, and they both sat down. She could put the humans out like a light, but the El car was a little tight for a b
attle, and the humans could get hurt.

  So, they waited.

  The next stop, the business woman got off, but three more people got on, twentysomethings on the way home from the bar.

  The stop after that, the soul eater couple got off, and they waited for two seconds then jumped up and followed. A longer wait would’ve been better, but the El didn’t stop for all that long between stations.

  She felt her excitement ratchet up when they went down the stairs, and there were no humans in sight.

  He grunted, “Charge.”

  She charged the woman and Jacob the man. She shifted her strength and speed, and then felt a rush of anticipation as she closed on the couple.

  They spun around at the last moment, almost faster than she could see, and met their charge. No doubt they’d picked up on their emotions, perhaps they’d known for a while, since the train, and had been waiting for it.

  The woman spat, “Hunters,” she said in disgust as they traded attacks.

  She launched a harpoon of thought, and sent thoughts of grief, regret, and guilt. She’d found it to be an effective combination to distract prey during a fight, given that the evil soul eaters weren’t used to dealing with those three emotions at all, being crazy, psychotic, and evil and all.

  The woman laughed, it was cold and absent any feeling at all, and she wondered just how old the couple was. The couple may be far older than she’d imagined. Her target looked completely immune to that tactic as they continued to trade lightning fast blows. The woman fought the same way she did as well, with yin techniques, a technique none of her sparring partners had which put her at further disadvantage. She was used to fighting against aggressive and powerful yang styles, even Meri fought that way.

  It was her turn to be pummeled by emotions, as a sense of fear and hopelessness came over her. She shifted her emotions without thought, and a growl left her lips. She shifted all her resources into speed, and even dug deep into her soul eater abilities to enhance it even further. Her strength was just a little bit over her norm, which was quite good in itself.

  The woman laughed, and she felt more fear go down her spine, but this time it was her own as the woman gracefully and quickly avoided all of her attacks, the bitch made it look totally effortless too. She had no doubts anymore, she was in a life and death fight with an ancient soul eater, one who had seen many centuries, if not millennia. The woman redirected or dodged all her strikes, as if she’d seen every one of them a million times before.

  Apparently, the supernatural Bonnie and Clyde were far more successful than the human version had been.

  Of course, she was no slouch either, but all her opponent felt was a little excitement from the challenge of it. She felt excited too, and thrilled at the challenge, but she was also worried. Her focus was absolute, she knew if she made a mistake she was a dead woman. As far as she could tell, Jacob was holding his own as well, but she couldn’t spare even a split second to look despite the temptation.

  She admitted it, without a weapon she wasn’t good enough, but neither was the soul eater good enough to kill her. They might fight another half an hour before one of them slipped or made another minor error out of bad luck to end the fight.

  But, she was a shifter, and didn’t feel any humans around at all. It was past time to stack the deck. What was the saying? If she was fighting fair she wasn’t doing it right. This wasn’t an honor fight, it was a fight to the death, and from her side it was also a long overdue execution of an evil supernatural criminal who preyed on humanity.

  The next time she redirected the woman’s strike, she shifted her hand into a claw. Instead of slapping her enemy’s attack to the side, her claw ripped into the woman’s forearm, tearing through skin, flesh, muscle, and bone.

  The evil bitch screamed and pulled back a bloody stump.

  She almost felt guilty at the woman’s glare of shock that screamed cheater. Then her other hand whipped out, the soul eater’s hand shot out to redirect, but flinched back at the last moment, which was all Lily needed.

  The woman should have dodged instead, but her muscle memory and flinch of fear of losing her other hand, had betrayed her.

  Lily’s clawed strike ripped the woman’s neck out, and blood sprayed. The soul eater went down with a horrified and desperate gurgle.

  Shit. She really liked that dark blue dress.

  She turned, and then watched for a moment. Jacob’s and his opponent’s fight looked far fiercer, even if it really wasn’t. They both fought with yang styles, both of them depending on strength and force as the pounded at each other and blocked with blunt strikes.

  The male soul eater had no redeeming qualities at all, there wasn’t even a twinge of pain or sorrow, and the bastard knew his evil playmate was dead.

  She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised by that.

  She watched the flow of the fight carefully before she acted, and then when she was sure she lunged in and struck the back of the asshole’s neck, right over his vertebrae. There was a loud pop, and the asshole went down hard.

  Jacob reached down, and then twisted the soul eater’s head completing the break, and not so incidentally finishing his foe.

  “Thanks.”

  She winked, “Anytime. You should have formed claws.”

  He smirked, “Yes, but then I’d be covered by blood too.”

  She giggled, “You might have a point. Let’s clean this up, and then go home.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The hot water of the shower felt good, as the sticky blood was sluiced from her skin. The dress was a total loss, as was the lingerie she had been hoping Jacob would feast his eyes on. There’d be other dresses though, and opportunities.

  She smiled slightly and bit her lip, as the shower door opened. She took a moment to bask under the hot water, his gaze, and the lustful regard of his emotions before she opened her eyes. It excited and energized her, but it also made her feel weak in the knees, both powerful and deeply vulnerable at the same time as she imagined his eyes caressing her every curve.

  “Hi. Come on in, why don’t you?” she teased.

  He replied with a smirk, “It’s my shower.”

  She melted against him when he gathered her in his arms to claim a kiss. It was sensually sweet, but not for long as their hands roamed each other with a feverish purpose. The earlier lust and desire paled next to what she felt in that moment, and she knew it was going to be a wonderfully long and pleasure filled night.

  They both backed off a little as it turned playful, and they got to actual washing. They’d get to his bed soon enough, and his hard-muscled body and other generous and hard attributes, had her breathless.

  First time or not, it would be wonderful, she knew it, her body knew it, and she was all his…

  She’d had no idea, no idea at all.

  Not that she’d tell him, his emotions were already smug enough as he held her against his side, and she laid her head on his chest. She didn’t even have words to describe the heights he’d brought her to, and just enjoyed the deliciously sore and sated feeling of her body’s post coital bliss. He loved her thoroughly, and was generous in bed, but it was more than just the mind-blowing pleasure of the physical sensations, they’d also shared emotions, and she’d fed on him during the throws of bliss. Which meant on top of that post bliss her body was still zinging with power and life.

  Her earlier thoughts had also been correct, she’d been far too sure what would please a man given it’d been her first time. Her instincts and past buried memories hadn’t let her down.

  Her hand traced circles on his chest, as his felt delightfully indulgent teasing the skin of her lower back and her hair with featherlight touches.

  He said softly, “Tell me you’ll stay the night.”

  She said in a breathless voice, “I’m not going anywhere.”

  He chuckled, “I didn’t want to assume, but I’d hoped.”

  He kissed the top of her head, and she sighed in decade
nt pleasure.

  She replied, “I didn’t want to either, assume I mean, so I’m glad you asked. It kind of feels too fast to spend the whole night, but then we already live in the same house.”

  She was afraid of scaring him away, because the depth of her feelings for him, and the certainty she felt about their relationship, scared the hell out of her.

  But then, she felt how deep his feelings were. The night had been incredible, and the physical pleasure was just a small part of it. It all just… felt too good to be true, she hoped neither of them regretted it when she got her memories back.

  He asked, “You ready for more?”

  A thrill went down her spine, and her body tingled, “You are trying to kill me,” she accused faux suspiciously, even as she rather wantonly rubbed her body against his both encouragingly and shamelessly.

  He laughed, and then pulled her up for a kiss. She supposed sleep would have to wait, because his rekindled hunger had ignited her own.

  She wasn’t sure what tomorrow would bring, but she had a lot of hope for the future.

  They made love deep into the night, and then she fell asleep in his arms…

  Afterword:

  I hope you enjoyed this story, if you did please leave a review. Reviews are the lifeblood of independent authors, and I would greatly appreciate any constructive feedback or opinions.

  This was the second of three books in the Lilith Chronicles. I tried for originality, while keeping true to some things in the urban fantasy genre, I guess I’ll leave it to you to tell me if I succeeded. Book three will be out soon.

  About the Author: If you have any comments or suggestions you can send me an email at dlharrisonauthor@gmail.com If you like my work, or even if you don’t, please consider leaving a review of this book. I can also be found at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7456808.D_L_Harrison

  Other books by D. L. Harrison: