Unhidden (The Gatekeeper Chronicles Book 1)

by Dina Given

  I couldn’t yet get a good look at what was coming for me, although I was pretty sure it didn’t need an assault weapon to be lethal.

  What emerged from the shadows were not human, but they also weren’t like the ghouls I had fought in Mexico. They were less substantial, like living extensions of the shadows they had crept out of. Any details or features were obscured by the darkness around them. What they lacked in physical presence, they more than made up for in psychic. The unseen was almost always more terrifying than the seen.

  My feet felt like lead posts drilled into cement as insidious, cold tendrils burrowed into my mind. How could I fight off something as insubstantial as shadows? I was used to fighting for my life in all sorts of extreme situations, but never against an enemy like this. I didn’t know anything about these things to give me an advantage. They were going to kill me, and I would never know why. Doubt and fear began to creep in through the cracks in my armor, feelings I had thought I conquered long ago, though perhaps had only shelved for a time.

  One of those shadow demons reached out a long, clawed hand toward me, snapping me out my pity party. My weapon was up in a flash, more out of instinct than purposeful defense. What good would bullets do against shadows?

  Rather than fire, I dove to the side, away from the reaching claw, dropped into a roll, and sprung back to my feet directly in front of their master. In response, handsome-evil-guy reached over his shoulder for what I now recognized to be a sword hilt, but I was faster.

  I dropped again and took out his legs with a sweep kick. As he fell to his knees, I came up behind him, wrapping my arm around his neck and shoving the end of my Glock into his temple. His shadow minions rushed forward, but he halted them with a raise of his hand.

  “I’ve had about enough of this shit. I want answers, and I want them now!” I snarled, pressing the gun harder into his temple. “Who are you?”

  With an almost amused tone, he responded, “There was a time you wouldn’t have needed to ask that question. My name is Zane Shayde. I am the High Commander of Lord Gabriel Marduk, our Protector and Savior. I have been dispatched to bring you back to Urusilim, preferably alive, but dead will do just as well.”

  With false calmness, I leaned down and whispered in his ear, quoting one of my favorite lines from the movie, Philadelphia. “‘Now explain it to me like I’m a four-year-old.’ Everything after your name sounded a lot like gibberish to me.”

  “I’m not here to explain anything to a traitor such as you,” he spat with contempt. “I would just as soon slit your throat and have done with it, but our Lord may have some use for you yet. However, if you were to resist, you may give me no choice in the matter.”

  “I think you must be mistaken. I don’t know who Lord Marduk is or what Urusilim is, but I am not playing your games. Take your friends here and leave before you get hurt.”

  The sound of a thousand nails scratching across a dusty blackboard emerged from the two shadowy forms standing ahead of us. It pierced my senses like an ice pick to the eardrum. The sound blew through the self-denial I hadn’t even realized I had been clinging to. I had been in denial for days, trying to explain away what had happened in Mexico in a military fashion, never really stopping to accept or internalize what I had experienced. I had seen, but I hadn’t really believed … until now. This wasn’t a physical enemy I understood and could fight with traditional human weapons. I shivered with the knowledge that I was in way over my head.

  Zane chuckled, “You will learn soon enough that this is no game, traitor.”

  I never really did well with fear. It seemed to be a useless emotion at best and a dangerous one at worst. I had a natural coping mechanism that quickly transformed fear into anger. And anger I could do something with.

  I snarled between clenched teeth, “I am most certainly no traitor. I fought for my country in more wars, skirmishes, and covert missions than I can count, so don’t you dare accuse me of betraying what I love.”

  “What you love?” he repeated, his voice becoming soft and distant, as if trying to grasp a wisp of a memory. His hands slowly lifted to the arm I still had wrapped around his throat, and he held my forearm with a gentleness I never would have expected from him. He slowly began to rub my sensitive skin in an almost thoughtless way, as though it was something he had done a million times before. I squeezed my eyes tight and bit back a gasp at the sensation, but the fine hairs on my arms responded, and my heart sped up a touch.

  “I’m not talking about your service in this world,” he continued in that soothing voice. “I am talking about what you did to our world. There are some that will never forgive you, those who would be content to allow you to stay lost to us. Others want you found to exact retribution. And still others believe you were in the right and look to you as a symbol for their cause.”

  I blinked in utter confusion, my mouth opening and closing, though no sounds would emerge. I had so many questions that I wanted—needed—to bombard him with, but all that came out was a weak, “What are you talking about?”

  That was all it took to set him off again.

  In one fluid motion, Zane shot up, breaking out of my chokehold, which had been flagging anyway given the distraction of the conversation, not to mention his touch. He spun to face me and forcibly pushed me back against the brick wall of the alley, my gun flying from my hand. I realized in that moment that I had never really had him dead to rights. Given the strength and physical prowess he had just demonstrated in that one simple move, he could have avoided my chokehold or broken free from it fairly easily. He had allowed me to put him in that position and had held back his shadow demons from clawing me to ribbons when they could have had me. The question was why.

  Rational thought quickly fled as he pressed his body against mine, holding me firmly in place. He towered over me by at least a foot. Immobilizing me might not have been his only objective though. He pushed his leg between mine and pressed even closer, holding my wrists above my head. I fought against his grip, but I couldn’t be sure whether I gave it my best effort.

  That snarl was back in his voice, his hot breath on my neck, as he bent his head closer to my ear. “You dare question me, traitor … destroyer of worlds? I could have my shadow demons split you from neck to groin while you slowly die trying to stuff your steaming entrails back inside your worthless carcass.” Zane’s body was saying something entirely different from his words.

  This guy was a serious lunatic and all the more dangerous for it. I needed to get him back to a more stable frame of mind.

  “Zane,” I said gently. He stiffened at the sound of his name on my lips, or at least the parts of him that weren’t already stiff did. “I know you could easily hurt me, and I know you haven’t yet. I’m sorry I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a lot about my life that I don’t remember, but I would like for you to help me understand. Maybe, if you explain it to me, we can work this out, and we can both walk away from this in one piece.”

  His body relaxed against mine, his voice shifting again to a softer tone. “Gods, how I’ve missed you,” he breathed.

  He nuzzled my neck, his breath searing my skin. Then his lips pressed against that sensitive spot behind my ear, sending a shiver along my spine that had nothing to do with fear. He felt my reaction and took it as an invitation, his mouth moving along the column of my neck. I struggled, trying to free my wrists from his iron grasp, but it only caused him to press harder against me.

  His presence was overwhelming, and his effect on me was terrifying. Were my struggles meant to escape or to move against him more provocatively? How was it possible that I didn’t know the answer to that question?

  He kept speaking to me as if he knew me … intimately. Did he know me from before my car accident? Did we go to high school together? Maybe we dated once upon a time. What the hell was I thinking? I didn’t go to high school with a guy who could command shadow demons, for cripes’ sake!

  Maybe he was lying about knowing me.
I certainly couldn’t trust him to tell the truth when he was there to kill me … or seduce me…, I couldn’t really tell what his plan was at this point. My goal was to kill him or, at the very least, capture and torture him for answers, but maybe I should just rip his clothes off and take him right there in the filthy alley. If I was being completely honest with myself, the thought wasn’t entirely unattractive.

  He ground himself against me, and my brain almost short-circuited as I felt his desire through his leather pants. He pulled away from my neck, looking into my eyes. We were almost nose-to-nose, and I was shocked at what I saw. His expression was filled with desire, longing, sadness … and recognition. He did know me, but from where?

  His hands came free from my wrists and moved down the length of my arms, causing my skin to catch fire. They slid to my shoulders and grazed gently against my chest above my breasts, which were now heaving slightly as my breathing increased. His eyes raked across my body, and he made a soft moaning sound.

  I took advantage of the moment and threw a right hook, hitting him squarely in the temple. He staggered back, giving me enough freedom to lift my knee and nail him in the groin. He doubled over with a grunt, his face turning blood red, glaring up at me with eyes that held murderous intent. That had brought him back to his senses—or away from his senses, depending on how you looked at it.

  I pushed off the wall, attempting to make a run for it; however, his shadow demons had his back. They closed in on me immediately, pressing me back to the wall as I tried to avoid their striking claws. Their screech came again, painfully piercing my brain as ice flooded through my body. I realized the noise was speech.

  Careful, girl. Marduk would be greatly displeased with us if we let anything happen to the mage. We have worked too hard and come too far to allow you to destroy this alliance. Marduk might need you, but we do not.

  When it stopped speaking, I found myself doubled over, clutching my head. The silence in my mind washed away the agony, and I was able to straighten, although it felt as if frost coated my brain. The creature had given Zane the time he needed to recover, and before I could react, Zane was on me again.

  “You dare try to manipulate me, you harlot? You will never sway me from my commanded duty! I will make you regret your treachery.” His long, nimble fingers closed around my neck and began to squeeze.

  My eyes widened in shock and fear, but I was unable to do more than squeak with the increasing pressure on my larynx. I clawed at his hands and face, trying in vain to get him to relax his grip. Finally, my thumbs found his eye sockets, and I pushed. The soft orbs gave way beneath my fingers, but only for a brief moment. He pulled his head back and turned away from me so I lost contact, yet his grip on my neck never wavered.

  My flailing arms grew heavy, falling limply at my sides. I tried to get them to obey me, but they were like immovable lead weights. My legs buckled, and Zane followed me down to the ground.

  His face became fuzzy as blackness crowded in at the edges of my vision. I had always thought I would go out in a blaze of gunfire. I had never expected I would be throttled by a hot guy in a grimy back alley only a few blocks from my apartment.

  Fear crept in then, like an uninvited rodent scurrying silently into a house after dark, burrowing its way behind the walls.

  I must have passed out because, when I became aware of my surroundings again, it was the smell that hit my nose first. It told me that I was still in the alley. The sounds of angry male voices came to me next. My heavy lids fluttered opened, and the excruciating pain that pulsed through my head made me question whether remaining alive was a good thing.

  Relying on discipline, training, and more than a little experience, I forced the pain down deep to be dealt with later. The solid surface of the brick wall was at my back, so I used it to stagger to my feet. When my vision cleared, the tall, lean figure of Alex emerged out of the darkness at the mouth of the alley.

  He entered the narrow space cautiously, eyes alert and darting around, taking in the scene before him. He held a long, smooth shaft of wood in his hand, holding it in front of him. If he was planning to bash someone’s skull in with it, that wouldn’t have been the best grip to use. Amateur, I thought absently.

  Zane was facing Alex and hadn’t noticed my awakening, but I was blocked in by Zane on one side and the shadow demons on the other.

  “Zane, let her go,” Alex said in an authoritative tone.

  “You know him?” I directed the question to Alex, my voice raspy and hoarse as I tried to speak through my damaged larynx.

  Both men ignored me—typical.

  “Alex, my old friend,” Zane said, not sounding friendly at all. “I was wondering when you were going to show up. I knew the Council would send their favorite attack dog for her. So, what’s the play: kill, capture, torture, or maybe the Council’s favorite … manipulate?”

  Alex’s eyes darted to me then back to Zane. “You have the Council wrong, Zane. I am not here to hurt her. They want her protected.”

  “It doesn’t matter what they want. She belongs to Marduk, and you know it. I’m just taking her back home where she belongs. He will decide her fate.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Alex said, not sounding at all intimidated. “You know that, after what happened, this is no longer a family matter and is the responsibility of the Council.”

  Confusion morphed into frustration. How dare these two Neanderthals stand there and discuss my fate as if I wasn’t even present?

  While Zane and Alex were occupied in their my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours contest, I looked around for my weapon, finding it about twenty feet away, lying between the two men. I then remembered the sword strapped to Zane’s back, which was in perfect reaching distance. I had never wielded a sword before and knew that, if it came to a fight, I would lose miserably. However, all I had to do was brandish it well enough to make them think twice about attacking me, giving me enough time and space to make my way to the Glock.

  The sword slid free of its scabbard in one smooth pull, letting loose a light chime. It was a large sword, not like those Japanese blades that ninjas in the movies used. This was more like Conan the Barbarian’s sword, yet it wasn’t as heavy as it looked.

  Using two hands, I hefted it with only a little effort, finally getting their attention. When Alex and Zane turned to face me in surprise, I swung the sword in a figure eight, hoping I didn’t look like a complete novice.

  “Emma,” said Alex, as if he were trying to calm a spooked horse. “I’m here to help you. Give me the sword.”

  I snorted in response. I know, not very lady-like of me.

  Zane wasn’t quite so accommodating. “You had your chance to die peaceably,” he snarled in his Mr. Hyde persona. “I’m done negotiating.”

  Negotiating? Was that what he thought of what had happened between us only moments earlier?

  Leaving me no time to be further affronted, Zane commanded, “Take her!”

  His shadow demons wasted no time closing in on either side of me. Alex made a move forward, presumably to stay true to his word and help me, but Zane blocked his path. Unworried and uncaring about what happened to the two of them, I focused my attention on the shadows.

  They might not have had brains to speak of, but they weren’t stupid. They came at me together, claws bared. As they approached, I was able to get a closer look at them, although their full features never really came into focus. The most I could make out were glowing yellow eyes in long, gaunt faces, with flowing shadowy cloaks hanging from their skeletal shoulders.

  I had nothing to wield against them other than Zane’s sword. Therefore, as claws slashed at me, I raised the weapon in an attempt to block them. I didn’t expect it to work against these insubstantial beings, but relief washed through me as steel clanged against talons. Their bodies might be shadow, but those claws were solid enough to rend, tear, and sever the life from my body.

  I swung the sword wildly. It arced through the air with no technique and
even less control. Thrust, parry, slash. I struggled to think through the right movements, the most solid stance, the best grip. My over-thinking made my movements choppy and uncertain, but I had been holding my own until one of the creatures saw an opening and slashed my left side.

  I cried out as a spike of icy pain speared through me. Zane and Alex both paused in their fight as they heard me. I hadn’t been paying much attention to them until this point and saw they now both held wooden staffs and were sweating and panting. How were they fighting each other with sticks, while I got stuck with the actual deadly nightmares? Not fair at all.

  “Don’t kill her!” Zane reminded the creatures.

  Alex noticed the trouble I was having with the sword and said, “Don’t think. Let your instincts take over.”

  Asshole, I thought. How the hell did wielding a broadsword for the first time ever—and against shadow demons, no less—come as instinct to anyone?

  Ignoring both men, I focused on defending myself and retrieving my gun, which was being kicked around unceremoniously by the two men as they fought each other. Why was nothing ever easy?

  The area right below my ribs where I had been injured was wet with blood and becoming numb from cold. There wasn’t much pain anymore; however, I was losing the use of those muscles to hypothermia, limiting my movements as I tried to wield the large sword with two hands. The bleeding slowed as the area grew colder. Shivers set in, racking my body as my core temperature dropped a few degrees.

  I blocked another slashing attack from the creature on my right and ducked as the claw of the creature on my left passed over my head. I knew they wouldn’t kill me, but Zane had said nothing to stop them from maiming or crippling me. In any case, I had no intention of allowing them to capture me either.

  I went on the offensive, slicing the sword through the air, cutting uselessly at shadows. Landing another blow on the claws of one demon, it let out a piercing shriek, but whether it was in anger or pain, I couldn’t tell. It gave the creature extra motivation that it probably didn’t need, since I was losing anyway. It came at me in a fury before I could recover, slashing my shoulder.