MADNESS: Book One of The Shadow-Keepers Series

by Jas T. Ward

  He loved her voice. He loved that right now, someone, somewhere, was worried about where he was. If he was okay.

  Reno sighed and tossed the phone to the table. He laid back down to draw up his knees and wrapped his arms around them. He hurt. But not from the injury on his side, that was already healing. Not even from the aches from Bounce throwing him around.

  No.

  It was an ache he knew far too well. His heart felt like it was bleeding out with each beat from the pain of having to make a choice. Of having to do what was best for his Witch and Rugrat. Knowing that being with him was risking exposing not only who and what he was, but that Sophia, a rare gift never planned, existed.

  Reno knew what he had to do. And he hated it.

  Reno had no idea how long he had been asleep, surprised that he had even been able to do so, when a pounding at his door caused him to fall off the couch and hit the floor.

  The light that made its way through the frosted glass on the window was muted so that meant it was late in the day. Pushing up on his hands and knees, the pounding at the door came once again when he got to his feet. Walking over to the door, Reno dropped his forehead to the cool metal after looking through the peephole.

  Emma.

  She was standing there and it was quite obviously she had been crying but now it looked like a combination of anger and fear were calling the shots.

  Reno seriously contemplated just being really quiet like he did when the sales people came to his door and maybe just like them, she would go.

  He knew if he opened that door, if he caught a whiff of her sweet vanilla scent, or looked into those emerald eyes, he would completely back down from his decision. If he opened that door he wouldn’t care about logic, only her. He’d not care the choice he had to make because with Emma his heart didn’t listen to his head where the logic was screaming really loud right now.

  “Reno. I know you’re in there. Your SUV is downstairs. Please let me in. I don’t know what’s going on.”

  Emma had awoken to her alarm clock going off at 7am to get ready to open the shop below and make Reno his usual breakfast of Lucky Charm waffles and Kool-Aid. Or she would have if she had not found his side of the bed empty with his Hummer not in the driveway.

  She had tried not to panic as her eyes darted to the window to look out into the bright early morning light. Sophia had babbled away sitting at the breakfast bar as Emma called Reno’s phone. Only for it to go to voice mail after ringing for what felt like forever.

  Still trying her best to keep the panic at bay, Emma had then called the Grid, trying to be discreet and saying she had healed him and wanted to make sure he was still okay. The Tech Relay that took her call assured her he was still online, but when she pressed to know where he was the Relay was not able to tell her that information per policy.

  Only those fused to a Breaker or the hero’s linked Relay could be given that information.

  That just frustrated her more because it had been her insistence that they keep their relationship a secret. Part of it was pride in the fact that she told everyone she knew that she would never get involved with a Breaker again. The larger part was to enjoy the buffer that keeping it hidden had given them as they got to know each other. Although, that reason seemed silly as Emma felt like she had known Reno for a lifetime.

  When she had no other choice to ease her fear, she had logged into the Grid online boards and used her credentials as a Healer Relay to obtain his address.

  And now Emma was pounding on his door.

  Reno’s hand was stalled on the knob with his forehead still sitting where it had been, the vibration of each bang of Emma’s delicate hand against the door seeming to slam into his brain.

  Blowing out a long breath as he opened his eyes to look down at the floor, and tilted his head to see an envelope slide under the door, his name written in Emma’s curling script on the front. He lifted his head to look out the peephole only to see the hallway to his apartment was now empty.

  She had left.

  Reno stared back down at that white plain envelope for several seconds as if he expected it to leave just like she had. To somehow slide itself back under his door and leave him aching at its loss, just like he was pained at not seeing Emma just now.

  Kneeling down to pick it up, he got to his feet and walked over to drop down on the couch, cradling the envelope in his fingers before he opened it and pulled out the letter.

  Reno,

  I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why you didn’t come home.

  But whatever it is. We’ll handle it. Because I love you. I need you. Please don’t be like all the rest. Please don’t leave me and not even tell me why you did. Please don’t break a heart that you mended with just a smile.

  Just please don’t go.

  -Love, Emma

  Reno was on his feet in a blink with the letter falling to the floor in the breeze he created in his rush. He ran to the door and after fumbling with the lock, cursed it before throwing open the door and flying down the stairs. He tripped and slid towards the door. He wasn’t even thinking as he grabbed the heavy door that led to the outside.

  “Daylight you fool! Sun is out. You want to BBQ like a chicken on a spit?”

  Sundown had warned him just in time as the door came flying open and he staggered back to slap his hands over his eyes from the bright light outside. He folded in pain, bending at the waist and screamed.

  “Witch! Emma!” He had almost risked running into the sun just to see her before he went up in flames rather than never see her again.

  He still might.

  “Emma! Don’t go. Please!”

  Emma couldn’t even see through her tears to put the key in the car door to leave. She was cursing herself as she tried to simply put that metal piece in the lock and then she broke into more tears and sobs.

  Reno had been there.

  She had felt him, though not sure how, on the other side of that door as she pounded and begged him.

  Just like Jess. He had used her up, gotten what he wanted and was just able to walk away.

  Why was she the one that people always left? She knew it was childish to blame her parents for getting killed. Just as stupid to blame her brother for getting killed working for the Grid. But this hurt so much worse than when Jess had left. This shattered her heart, and her faith in being someone anyone would or could love. And that in itself made no sense since her and Reno had only been together for a few months. But it was like a part of her heart was twisting and dying as she finally got the car door open. Its death would be sealed if she put that car in gear and drove away.

  Would he even care?

  As she went to close the door, she heard something and stopped with her hand frozen on the door handle as the sunlight and brisk air came pouring into the open door.

  No. It had to be her brain playing tricks on her along with her heart trying to manipulate reality to buffer the agony.

  But then she heard it again.

  Getting out of the car, her keys along with her purse falling to the pavement to scatter its contents to the warming pavement uncaringly. She left the car door sitting there wide open and without Emma realizing of it, she was running back to the building.

  Reno was on his knees, wrapping his arms around his head in pain with his forehead dropped to the cool tile of the foyer.

  He wasn’t able to make words. Just screams of loss and desperation mixed with rants of anger because he had to lose the one thing that made him feel real. Made him feel whole and complete even before he wasn’t.

  “Reno?”

  He froze, still prostrate on the floor as he heard her voice. Reno was afraid to look up and to see his mind had snapped and cracked even more than it was already.

  Then he felt her soft hand on his shoulder and he was lunging up, grabbing her to clutch her tight, hauling her down to hold her in his arms. Emma wrapped around him just as tight trying to soothe him. He was shaking as if something had sca
red him to the core.

  “Please don’t go. I don’t want you to go. I don’t want to go.”

  His voice was like that of a frightened, lost child and she shook her head to kiss the side of his jaw. “I wasn’t. I can’t. I thought you had.”

  He pulled back to cup her face, tears coursing down his cheeks and wiping away the ones that were beckoned by his own from her beautiful eyes. “I should. I need to. But I can’t. I don’t know why. But without you I can’t breathe. I can’t even imagine a heartbeat without you in it.” He put his forehead on hers. “Don’t let me go. Hold on to me. No matter what. Please don’t let me go.”

  Emma had no idea what all that meant, and his words seemed to carry more weight than she could begin to fathom, but she didn’t care as she smiled and nodded. “I won’t. I promise. I’ll never let you go.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Family Night

  “Tell me about your parents?”

  Emma was lying next to him with her head resting on his chest, tapping out each heartbeat with her fingers. She made slow circles with them on his bare, sweat slicked chest. They had made love and now were barely able to move as they lay in bed at his place.

  Emma sighed and turned her head to prop her chin on his pec as she looked up at him to meet his eyes. “My folks were amazing. My mom’s name was Lisa and she married my dad Leo when they were barely out of high school. They loved each other so much it was embarrassing to us three girls and my brother. My mom was a Healer Relay just like me. The reason I became one. And my dad was a Tech Relay who helped set up the new computer based Grid back in the day.” She laughed softly with sadness and rolled her eyes.

  “He was always telling us because he was so proud to be a part of that. His name is even engraved in a few Grid substations as one of the engineers. They were married for almost twenty-five years and spent the majority of those years working on the Grid. In fact,” a small frown creased her features as her voice went softer, “they had done their duties so well. Had worked so hard they were just days from retiring. And that meant as reward for working so hard on the Grid, for dedicating their lives to it, we all would be made immortal. They would spend eternity with a nice pension and as much time as they wanted to relax and enjoy a life without working so hard.”

  Reno searched Emma’s eyes as she spoke. He knew they had died, but that was about all he knew. As he listened he saw so many emotions both light up and darken his Witch’s gaze.

  Love. Affection. Sadness and pain.

  Bringing a hand up to cup the side of her face as he tilted his head to meet her gaze more, he said softly. “You don’t have to talk about the bad stuff. I was just curious.”

  Emma sighed deeply again and laid her cheek back on his chest, placing her hand over his as she continued on.

  “I don’t like talking about it. Not at all. But I want you to know everything Reno. I don’t want the past to be an unknown. No secrets.”

  Reno internally smarted big time at that and it was all he could do not to flinch on the outside at her wish. Boy was he breaking that request in all kinds of ways. Just the fact that she was opening up about what must be one of the most painful times of her life, made Reno know how deep that trust ran.

  Thumb stroking her cheek, Reno listened as his eyes drifted to stare out the window at the moon. It now rode high in the sky as if it too was a silent witness to the past as it ripped up from his Witch’s wounded soul.

  “We had a big dinner with all of us dressed up in our best clothes. Even my big clumsy brother Ben, although our mom couldn’t get him to put on a tie. I was fourteen, Lily was twelve, Rose was eleven and Ben was sixteen. My mom put on a new dress and dad had on his best suit. We were going to what they called a fancy restaurant.” Witch laughed softly, but it was the saddest sound Reno had ever heard.

  Emma didn’t often go back to that night because it always seemed so vivid, like it had happened yesterday instead of fourteen years ago. Sitting up as she pulled her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs to press her cheek to a knee.

  She smiled as she felt Reno’s arms come around her then his strong legs wrapping around her as if cocooning to protect her in the circle of his body.

  His cheek came to rest against her shoulder and she focused on his soft breath teasing across the skin at the back of her neck.

  So warm and gentle, just like the man.

  Letting out deep sigh, Emma continued as she opened up the flood gates in her mind in order tell the story of the night her parents were killed.

  And her childhood ended.

  (Fourteen Years Ago)

  “Was that not the best meal you have ever eaten kids?” Leo Devenmore was beaming in between subtle belches at the meal they had just had. Lisa laughed as she looped her hand in the crook of her husband’s arm as they walked out of the Bayside Steakhouse.

  The girls were tittering and giggling at the cute wait staff while Ben shuffled behind them with his hands shoved in his itchy suit pants pockets. Getting to the valet station, Leo frowned to find it unattended.

  “That’s strange.” Looking down at his dark-haired petite wife, he gave her a smile. “No matter.”

  The valet cabinet with the keys in it stood open so he had no problem finding his set of keys, which held handmade key fobs and hand braided decorations from all his kids. Some at the Grid made fun of the virtual cluster of color that held his keys, but he was proud of each and every one of the ornaments. He said it was like carrying his family with him wherever he went.

  Leo jangled the keys in his fingers as he leaned down to give Lisa a kiss before moving towards the parking lot.

  “Let’s go find our car kids.” The girls skipped ahead as Emma walked next to her mom, whose arm was around her. Emma leaned her cheek on her mom, but couldn’t seem to stop the nagging feeling that something was wrong.

  But everything about the night seemed perfect as Emma watched Lily and Rose find the family van. Her dad called it their Devenmore Limo and she knew that he was given a hard time about that vehicle too. But again, it was a symbol of their family and that meant everything to her dad.

  Reaching the van, Leo and Lisa helped the kids load up making sure each seat belt was latched. As he went to get into the van he paused in front of it to pull his wife into a deep kiss.

  The other kids either booed or hid their eyes, but this always made Emma smile. They had been married for decades and they had worked so hard to get to this point.

  They were going to retire and in exchange her parents along with their children were going to be immortal. The little kids didn’t know that part, but her parents had shared that intel with just her and Ben. Emma knew her parents deserved it and she was glad for them all.

  As Emma picked up the book she was reading for the drive to their home on the other side of the bay, she heard an odd thud against the van. The rest of her siblings were being loud and Ben had already put on his headphones to listen to music. But there it was again except this time it was followed by a scream.

  Emma sat up fast, held to the seat by the seatbelt and looked out the front windshield of the van.

  At first she didn’t see anything and looked over at Ben. Ben unsnapped his seatbelt and reached over the driver’s seat to hit the headlight switch.

  Suddenly the parking lot in front of them was awash in hazed headlight glare. Her father was fighting while her mother was being held down on the ground. Emma held back a scream as Ben was climbing over the front seats to get out of the van. Just then Leo looked up and yelled for them to stay in the van. “Lock the doors! Do not get out! Call the Grid!”

  Emma and Ben’s eyes locked for the briefest of seconds as Ben was grabbing the cell phone that rested in the center console. Hitting 1 and *, her brother started talking fast, but coherent, as all Emma could do was watch.

  Her parents were on the technical side of the Grid. Not Breakers and not Recon. Simple personnel who worked behind the scenes and were neve
r trained to fight in any way. But as she watched her father she was struck with how fluid he was and how enraged and focused his moves were. Her mother too was fighting as she kicked and punched the man that was attacking.

  Rose and Lily were crying and screaming so Emma undid her seatbelt and joined them in the last bench seat of the van. The two younger girls buried their faces in her shoulders, clutching and clinging to her and asking her if it was over yet.

  Emma shook her head as she watched what she knew was a losing battle. Six of the monsters were attacking her parents and she knew that even a trained Breaker would be counted out with those odds.

  “Not happening!”

  Suddenly Ben was out of the van, making sure to lock the door behind him. The girls screamed for him to stay but as his father went down to hit the pavement, his son was taking up the fight.

  Emma couldn’t see her mom as fear turned her blood cold. Her father was crawling towards the van as if tagged out by Ben in some macabre wrestling match when Emma realized Leo was trying to get to his wife Lisa.

  Lily and Rose were crying hard as Emma tried to reassure them, but it was no use. Both her parents were now out of sight of the van’s headlights as Emma’s eyes were glued on her brother trying to take on three of the things that attacked them.

  Emma had limited knowledge of the enemy. She just knew they were demons that looked like humans and fed off humans to remain here. They looked human, but something about these attackers seemed not quite right. She knew these were what the Grid called Eaters.

  After what seemed like just seconds, Ben was going down as well and the scream that had been held at bay came rushing out of Emma’s lips.

  Something smashed against the glass on the passenger side of the van and she turned her head to meet the eyes of one of the attackers. He was slamming his blood covered fist against the glass as his other hand tried the handle to find it locked.