Shadow Marked: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Shadows of Salem Book 2)

by Jasmine Walt

  “Then what the hell should I do?” I demanded, throwing up my hands. “I can’t go to Uncle Oscar myself.”

  “Send someone else,” the phoukas suggested.

  “Like who?” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “My rolodex isn’t exactly bursting with powerful friends.”

  “Your father is more powerful than the Morrigan,” the phoukas offered. “He could easily protect your uncle.”

  “My father?” I froze, confusion hanging like a fog in my thoughts. “What do you mean? My father is dead.”

  The phoukas laughed. “Your fae father, the one who originally gave you the fae blood running through your veins.” He shook his dark head. “I should have known you would not know his name.”

  “So, you’re saying that if I could somehow get a hold of my father, that he can help me?” I narrowed my eyes. That seemed way too easy. If my father cared about me at all, then why had he never shown himself to me? Did he even know that I’d reincarnated? That I was walking amongst the earth again?

  “I cannot promise your father will do anything, but if he cannot defend Oscar himself, he should be able to give you or teach you something so you can,” the phoukas said.

  Knowing who my father was seemed important. Did Maddock know and choose not to share the information with me? That would be just like him. Knowing things and not telling me unless I asked. Then again, half the time I asked things he didn’t answer me anyway.

  “Fine. Tell me his name and how to find him.” It seemed like a long shot, but I needed to do something.

  “I cannot tell you your father’s True Name, as I do not know it,” the phoukas said. “However, he goes by Rhys Maoilriain, and he is known as the Winter King. He resides at the Winter Palace in Faerie’s unseelie realm.”

  “Well that explains why I can freeze things with my hands,” I muttered, staring down at them. I’d never really tried to do that again, but I supposed I should work on honing that talent as well. What other kind of magic had I inherited from my father? Or was it just this one ability?

  “All right, well, I need you to take me to him now,” I said, standing up. “Let me go and get my weapons.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’ve delivered your favor,” the phoukas said. “Finding your father is up to you.”

  “What—” I began, turning back around. He couldn’t just cut off the conversation like that!

  But he was already gone.

  Chapter 16

  “What do you mean, he isn’t available?” I demanded, squaring off against the huge bouncer guarding the entrance to ENVY, Maddock’s club. This particular bouncer—Nyx was his name—seemed to have it in for me since the first time we’d butted heads. I’d complained about him to Maddock once before, and ever since, he was always the bouncer at the front door whenever I came by. Not by any coincidence, I was sure.

  “Get yourself a dictionary if you can’t figure it out,” Nyx said dismissively, glancing away.

  “I know he’s here,” I growled up at him. Several of the hopefuls in line shot me a nasty glare as I held them up, but I ignored them—my problems were a hell of a lot bigger than their desire to get a piece of fae ass. “Quit stonewalling me, and let me talk to him. It’s important.”

  The coldness in his dark gaze told me he didn’t give a rat’s ass about any threat I might pose—and why would he? According to Maddock, these huge guys that he employed as guards were actually trolls. I was no match against them with my comparatively tiny, five-foot-six frame, not unless I used my magic or shot him with one of my iron bullets. And I couldn’t do that with an audience, even if I was dumb enough to think that would actually help me.

  Nyx smirked. “If you’re so certain he’s here, why don’t you try getting a hold of him?”

  “If I was able to do that, do you think I’d be standing here arguing?” I said between clenched teeth.

  “Exactly my point,” he said, lifting an eyebrow. “The boss isn’t answering your calls, because he’s not available. I’ll be sure to tell him you stopped by when he gets back. Now quit holding up the line before I’m forced to have you escorted off the properly.”

  “Fine.” Incensed, I stalked away.

  Why was it that whenever Maddock needed me, he could just barge into my personal space and whisk me off at the drop of a hat, but when I needed him he was nowhere to be found? I knew this partnership was never going to be equal so long as there was such a huge disparity between me and Maddock in power, but this was getting ridiculous.

  I hoofed it around the side of the building, but instead of heading for the Jeep, which I’d parked two blocks away, I went around the back entrance. A tiny spark of nervous energy rippled down my spine as I approached the alleyway. The last time I’d been here, Maddock had ordered his guards to take me out back and have a gnome wipe my memory of my visit to the club. Not that it had worked, but I wasn’t interested in finding the gnome back here again. Or worse, one of the guards. How was I going to get inside?

  To my surprise, there was nothing in the back alley at all. Not the back door to the kitchens that I’d been escorted out of previously, not the gnome sitting on the trash can—hell, there wasn’t even a damned dumpster back here.

  “What the fuck?” I grumbled, running my hand along the brick wall as I walked. Had Maddock used magic to shield the back entrance from me so that I wouldn’t be able to get in? My senses were tingling like crazy, but I couldn’t be sure if it was from any particular spell. After all, this was a fae club. There was magic everywhere.

  Suddenly, my fingers that were pressed against the brick began to tingle strongly, and I stopped. Was there something here? I started moving again, and the tingles got stronger, then receded and stopped altogether. I moved back, hand still on the wall, and the tingling in my hand increased.

  What was here?

  This could be a dumb idea, I told myself as I pressed both hands against the spot. For all I knew, there was some kind of protection spell here, and I was about to set it off and get my ass fried. But on the other hand, this could be the way into Maddock’s club. Some secret passage leading inside. Either way, my gut feeling was that when you have a lead, however unlikely it may be, you follow it. So I closed my eyes and pressed my hands against the wall.

  The brick shifted beneath my palms, and my eyes flew open. A cry ripped from my throat as the brick transformed into a black, gelatinous substance, my hands sinking in. I tried to pull them out, panic screaming through my veins, but the pull was too strong. This stuff, whatever it was, was sucking me straight in. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

  The more I pulled back, the harder it hauled me in. Like quicksand, I thought, trying to remember what I knew about the stuff. Which unfortunately wasn’t much. I vaguely recalled that I should relax and try to lean back, but that wasn’t an option right now as I was being pulled in face first. I was in up to my shoulders now.

  With no alternative, I closed my eyes and held my breath, fully expecting to be submerged into whatever this black goo was. A jello-like substance slid over my skin, coating my face, neck, and hair as I was pushed through the blackness. Next thing I knew, I was being shoved out. I didn’t feel the weight of the goo anymore, or anything on my skin at all, really.

  My eyes popped open as I stumbled across hard ground, and I threw out my hands to stop myself from falling. They slapped against the gnarled, black trunk of a tree, and I stared. How did this get here? Was this some strange part of the club?

  I released the breath I’d been holding and glanced back over my shoulder from the way I’d come. No wall. No black goo. I glanced down at my body, my hands smoothing over my clean, clear skin and clothes. Nothing.

  What the fuck?

  An eerie howl echoed through the chilly air, sending a shiver down my spine. As I looked around some more, my mouth dropped open. I was in some kind of forest full of strange, black trees twisted into odd shapes. Snow dusted their limbs as well as the ground beneath my feet, bu
t despite the obvious winter, the tree branches weren’t bare. They were covered with ice crystals shaped like leaves, which reflected the moonlight shining above and made the canopy twinkle like a sea of diamonds.

  It would have been beautiful, if not for the eerie, glowing, inhuman eyes staring at me from the branches. The howl from earlier was still echoing through the trees, and the hair on my arms stood on end. The reaction had nothing to do with the icy air and everything to do with my instincts telling me to get the hell out of this place.

  Wherever the hell this was, it sure wasn’t the night club. But as far as I could see, there wasn’t a way out.

  Maybe I just can’t see it.

  I turned carefully, making sure to do an exact one-eighty from the way I came in, and started walking slowly toward what looked like nothing. At any moment, I would be sucked back through whatever rift there was between this world and my own. Any moment now.

  Any…moment.

  I took ten steps. Then fifteen. Then twenty. I hadn’t walked in this far, had I? I thought it’d only been a few steps before I tripped.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see the spot where I’d fallen when I’d come in. It was a good distance behind me. I should have made it back through by now. I kept walking, each step making the pit in my stomach grow with that sinking feeling that if there was a way back, I would have found it already.

  Just as I was about to accept that this obviously wasn’t the way back, a caw shrieked through the air. I glanced up just in time to see a murder of oversized crows, easily ten times the size of normal, headed straight for me. They had red eyes that glowed demonically in the darkness, and I screamed as they swooped down, grazing my hair with their beaks. Somehow, I managed to dive to the side, and the birds started winging off into the trees instead.

  “Dammit,” I swore. They were headed straight for me again.

  I reached for my vampire gun, which I’d loaded up with iron bullets this time in preparation for demanding Maddock take me to Faerie. But there were too many birds for me to shoot down, and those beaks looked awfully sharp.

  There was nothing for it. I was going to have to use magic.

  Planting my feet on the ground, I reached inside me for the reservoir of power that had built up. Some of the energy Maddock had given me from when we fought the Onyx Order was still there, and the vast amount of power from Father James swirled within me, too. And then there was my own power—a cold, clear stream that seemed awfully thin, but stretched endlessly. Rather than drawing from the stream, I yanked on the swirling darkness with all my strength, directing it at the birds.

  Black ice shot from my palms, hitting the birds straight on. The creatures shrieked as the ice coated them, and they dropped like stones, hitting the ground with heavy thuds that rang with finality. There were dozens of birds; I didn’t dare let up, throwing everything I had in their direction. Their sense of self-preservation seemed to kick in, and the remainder shot skyward, flying away as fast as their inky feathers could take them.

  Panting, I lowered my hands, then sagged against a tree. I felt simultaneously refreshed and exhausted, as if I’d run a marathon and performed a detox at the same time. Had I managed to expel all the darkness from me?

  I turned my attention inward, searching. There were a few tidbits still floating around there, but the power inside me was a lot clearer now. Despite my predicament, I grinned. These nasty headaches would soon be behind me.

  The triumphant moment passed, and I straightened, looking around again. Glowing eyes still watched me from the darkness, but I sensed wariness coming from their direction. Good. So they had a healthy respect for my powers.

  Okay, so judging by the total weirdness around you, this probably is Faerie, I thought as I pushed away from the tree, stepping over the carcass of a dead bird that had cracked when its frozen body had impacted the ground. It hadn’t disintegrated the way a fae or vamp would, which made me wonder if that was because of what they were or where we were.

  I swallowed around the lump forming in my throat as I wove through the dead crows littered at my feet and continued through the forest. I hadn’t expected to come to Faerie alone, and my first reaction upon arriving was to turn back. But it was what it was, so I intended to make the most of it.

  Inwardly, though, I ached for Maddock’s company. Even though I’d found this place without his help, it would still be nice to have him here—or someone here—to tell me where to go next.

  Was this unseelie territory? It certainly seemed that way—the seelie were considered the fairer race, according to Maddock, and I couldn’t see them living in such a dark place. Did that mean my father was nearby? Could I find him? Maybe this was his forest. He was called the Winter King, and these weird, ice-like trees seemed to be something a fae with that title would have in his forest.

  Don’t be stupid, Brooke. You can’t go bumbling around in Faerie like this, without a guide. You need to get back to Earth! Before something worse than murderous crows comes along and tries to eat you!

  Right, but how the hell did I do that? I’d already tried the only other logical path back.

  My steps grew faster, and I looked around anxiously, trying to spot anything that might be a portal that could take me back home. But there was nothing but trees. My senses weren’t tingling like they were when I’d found the portal behind ENVY, either. The way out must not have been the same as the way in, which meant I was royally fucked.

  A loud thud echoed through the forest, and I froze as the tree branches and the ground shook from the force of it. Another thud sounded, and ice leaves rained down on the ground. I hissed as several of them cut into my skin and covered my head as I tried to get clear of any tree branches. The thuds were getting closer, and I had an awful feeling that they were footsteps. Very big footsteps.

  A moment of panic hit me as I realized I literally had no idea what to expect around here. I’d lived twenty-three years without ending up in Faerie once—how long could I survive? Did time pass differently between here and at home? What if I got back only to find that three months had passed?

  Focus, Brooke. Let’s get out of the way of the big, scary thing that’s coming.

  Just as I was heading for a thicket that looked like it could provide good cover, a giant pushed aside two trees and stepped into the path in front of me. The trees made an awful cracking sound as he effortlessly split them into two, and my eyes popped wide open as I stared up at the monster. It was a ghastly thing, about thirty feet tall, with limbs nearly as wide as the tree trunks around me and bluish gray skin covered with seeping pustules. His face looked like a craggy mountain, and it split into a wide grin, revealing jagged, moss-colored teeth.

  The giant reached for me, roaring something that at first I couldn’t understand. I jumped out of the way, heart pounding, and drew my gun. The words pouring from his mouth were unintelligible at first, but then something shifted in my mind, and suddenly I could understand him.

  “—MINE NOW!” he roared, reaching for me again. “YOU ARE IN MY TERRITORY, SO YOU ARE MINE!”

  “Like hell!” I snapped, firing at his hand.

  The bullet ripped through his palm, and the giant let out a howl of pain. I dashed beneath the cover of the trees as he shook his hand, which probably burned like a bitch. Unfortunately, I knew it wouldn’t slow him—the bullets were way too small, so it was probably the equivalent of being stabbed through with a knitting needle.

  “COME BACK HERE!” the giant shrieked, crashing through the forest after me.

  He was taller than the forest canopy, and I had to duck and dodge as entire trees came crashing down in his wake. I needed to get the fuck out of here before he grabbed me. There was no way I could use my magic on this guy before he managed to crush me to death with his bare hands.

  His fist closed around me then, and I screamed as he lifted me high in the air. My stomach churned as the oozing pustules in his palm pressed against me, and I had to fight the urge not to vomit in
to his eye as he held me up to his face for inspection.

  “You have given me a lot of trouble,” he said, his voice guttural. Even when he wasn’t shouting, his voice was powerful, and a gust of fetid breath blew my hair back. “I should eat you now.”

  Thinking fast, I drew myself as upright as I could manage while being squeezed by a giant fist and gave him my best glare. “How dare you!” I said in the most imperious voice I could muster. “Don’t you know who my father is?”

  “Your father?” The giant’s murky yellow eyes narrowed, and he leaned closer. His nostrils flared as he sniffed me, and I got a good look at the biggest nose hairs I’d ever seen in my life. “You are a shadow,” he said, sounding curious now. “I thought you were a witch.”

  “I’m both,” I said icily. “And my father is the Winter King. He will be very displeased if he finds out that you’ve eaten me.”

  The giant paled beneath his disgusting skin. “The Winter King’s daughter has not been seen for a long time,” he said. “We were told she was dead!”

  “Do I look dead to you?” I snapped, struggling to hide my own curiosity. So the unseelie knew that the Winter King had a daughter who was a shadow. What did they think about me? Had I been respected and liked by the unseelie in my former life? Or feared and looked down upon, because I was only half-fae?

  The giant sniffed me again. “You do smell like him,” he conceded reluctantly. He lowered me to the ground, and I forced myself not to sigh in relief as he let me go. “I will not risk the Winter King’s wrath today,” he decided. “But should we meet again, and I have found out you are lying, I will take you back to my lair and you will serve me as a slave for the next thousand years.”

  The next thousand years? I thought numbly as I watched him lumber away. Was that even possible? I supposed it was, since I was half-fae, but I hadn’t really given much thought to my lifespan. Would I continue to age, or would I eventually freeze at a certain point?