Blood Shadows

by Lindsay J. Pryor

  Caitlin’s gaze rested squarely on his again. ‘That’s why I work so well undercover.’ She looked back at Karl. ‘I need to use your phone. I suggest you co-operate.’

  Karl frowned, studied her gaze for a moment then handed her his phone.

  She accepted it warily, backing into the booth. ‘And some privacy?’

  Karl held up his hands and backed away, slapping Boyd on the arm to let the door go. She watched them as they turned their backs on her. Karl’s shaved head lowered to Boyd as he whispered something to him. Whatever it was, she had the feeling it wasn’t good.

  She looked down at the phone. Xavier’s number was still held in her head where she’d practised it so many times. She started to input it, but stopped as she got to the fourth digit. The things Kane had said crept into her mind. Max was the better option. She needed to talk to Max. She needed to ask him about the things Kane had said before contacting Xavier. She inputted Max’s number and held it to her ear as it rang. As it kept ringing, she bit into her bottom lip, looked out of the booth to see Karl and Boyd had turned to face her, hands shoved in their pockets as they glanced warily and guiltily over both shoulders intermittently. They weren’t going to let this go. They weren’t going to let her go.

  Max’s voice-mail resounded in her ear and her heart plummeted. ‘Max, it’s Caitlin. I’m okay. I’m far north in Blackthorn. Lycan territory. I’m in a phone booth near the corner of Orkney Street. Kane’s got a place on the industrial estate a twenty-minute walk down Bishop Street. He’s about ten minutes down Hove Avenue. You need to look for a grey corrugated garage door. There’s a blue sign on the building opposite that says Sable. Behind the grey door is a garage. There’s a door to the far left as you go in. It goes into a living area. He’s after the lycans that killed Arana, so we’ve got cause to take him in.’ She hesitated for a moment. ‘Max, leave Xavier out of it for now though, will you? I need to talk to you first. I’m going to hang around Orkney Street and lay low, but I’ll keep a look out for you.’ She paused. ‘Just make it quick.’ She disconnected and took a steadying breath before pushing the door open.

  Karl strolled towards her and held out his hand for his phone. Boyd tucked in tight beside him, re-forming the barrier.

  Karl dialled a number and held his phone to his ear.

  Caitlin frowned, but resisted asking him what he was doing as she tucked her hand back in Kane’s coat. She subtly threaded the keys back into place between her fingers, removing her screwdriver hand from her pocket and tucking it behind her back.

  He smiled as he disconnected. ‘That didn’t sound like a unit on standby. Who’s Max, honey? Boyfriend?’

  He was smarter than he looked.

  And it was pointless trying to explain herself.

  She rammed the screwdriver into Karl’s thigh, leaving it in for good measure as he instantly dropped to his knees. She slammed her keyed knuckles into Boyd’s side and withdrew. It was quick and sharp enough to throw them both off balance and disorientate them enough for her to slip between them and run.

  She pounded through the puddles, rainwater splashing her legs. She avoided heading down the main street, opting to take cover somewhere less exposed. She tried to memorise the names of each street she passed so she could find her way back.

  Feet and calves numb, her face cold against the breeze, she weaved left and right down quieter side streets, sending a wary glance over her shoulder to see she had been successful in leaving them behind.

  She stopped to catch her breath and faced the way she had run. She rested her hands on her hips as she looked around her, panting, composing herself, renewing her strength. She’d have to go back there. For the sake of Max finding her, she at least needed to be close to where she’d told him.

  She took a few paces forward and flinched as a car revved around the corner, the thrum of the heavy-beat music inside pounding through the tarmac, the neon under-light glowing blue against the ground.

  To her relief, it raced past her, but then it slammed to a halt, the white of the reverse lights suddenly ignited.

  She didn’t need to know that whatever was in that car, it meant trouble.

  Caitlin ran, taking a left and then a right. As she heard the car reverse, she picked up pace, adrenaline burning in her chest, unable to feel her feet beneath her as though she was running on air as she ploughed past street after street, the car pursuing her.

  She knew she had to get into the lanes despite it going against her better judgement. If they were humans, it was her best chance to hide out. If they were lycans they would have already been out of the car and pursuing her on foot, her scent impossible not to follow.

  She took a sharp right down a lane between two houses, tunnelling into the darkness, taking a left past a chain-link fence before circling around to another alley. She pounded forward until she felt excruciating pain as something hard and sharp sliced into her foot, embedding itself. She stumbled and tried to stop herself crying out.

  She leaned back against the wall behind a dumpster and regained her breath again, lifting her foot as she rested her head back against the wall in agony. As the car revved past her, she lowered to her haunches, the car’s headlights igniting the alley for a moment before speeding away.

  It hadn’t seen her.

  Silence swamping the alley, Caitlin stood slowly and warily. Every muscle burned with exhaustion making it harder for her to balance and keep the weight off her foot. Thighs trembling, she wiped a tear from her eye at the pain aching through her whole lower right leg. She lifted her foot and touched the underside. She knew immediately from the sharpness that she’d stood on glass, a good fraction of which was still lodged in her sole. And her foot wasn’t just wet from water – it was too thick and warm to be water. Smelling of vampire and now of fresh human blood too, lycan territory suddenly became even more threatening.

  She cursed under her breath and rested her head back against the wall. She wasn’t going to be running anywhere now. She’d be lucky to even walk. And from guessing what the state of her foot was, she’d be leaving a convenient trail wherever she went if she did.

  But she had to get back somewhere near the booth. She rolled her head to the right towards the alley entrance and her heart leapt at the figure there.

  She could only make out an outline, but whoever it was, they were more than likely male from the height and stature. Her first instinct was Kane, but the figure was too stocky. Besides, Kane would have already been storming towards her. This one lingered, exhaling cigarette smoke into the night air. He could have just stopped for a smoke or maybe to use the alley as a toilet. He might have been waiting for someone. Maybe waiting to be picked up. But he remained motionless other than his smoking hand.

  She tried to quiet her breathing, grateful she had at least had a few minutes to rest. She just had to remain as quiet and still as she could until he moved away, then she could make her way back out onto the street.

  At least the car was long gone, and Boyd and Karl were more than likely either getting bored with trying to find her or seeking some form of medical treatment.

  But the figure didn’t move.

  Feeling light-headed and exhausted, Caitlin didn’t dare take her attention off the shadow. After a couple of painful minutes, he threw down his cigarette, filling Caitlin with a sense of relief – until she saw him turn in her direction and stride forward.

  Caitlin hurriedly reached inside Kane’s jacket pocket for the keys, threading them through her fingers again. She’d never outrun them, human or lycan, and she had no balance to fight nor the strength.

  As soon as he stopped in front of her, she knew he was a lycan. He had to be at least six foot four, broad, his long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, his features hard in the dim light, his eyes sparkling preternaturally. And from the subtle flaring in his nostrils, the curiosity behind his eyes, he was picking up the vampire scent.

  She clenched the keys.

  His gaze darted to her hand, h
e grabbed her wrist in an instant, slamming her hand once then twice against the wall, grazing her knuckles, forcing her to release the keys into his hand. He shoved them in his pocket then bent forward to lift her up over his shoulder.

  ‘Get off me!’ she demanded, digging her nails under his jacket and into his back but he barely flinched as he carried her further into the depths of the alley.

  Caitlin buckled and flexed futilely as it took little for him to control her, his bulk as well as his supernatural strength keeping her bolted down against his shoulder. Caitlin eventually stopped fighting him, reserving her energy for whatever he had planned.

  It was over. Down the depths of some dark and unpleasant alley in lycan territory. She was stupid to have run from Kane when she had no idea what she was running into. And in that moment, she wished she were back with him. She wished he were there now. The lycan wouldn’t have stood a chance against him. But there was no Kane, only more putrid darkness.

  The lycan carried her past the large metal bins, the strewn-aside cardboard boxes and crates. If he was going to interrogate her or attack her, he’d had opportunity enough. The street was already a distance away. No one could see them in the shadows. No one would hear them.

  Instead he dropped Caitlin back to her feet, pushing her through the chain-link fence before forcing himself through it behind her. Despite her continued protest, he lifted her back up over his shoulder with ease and carried her across an open expanse of concrete, towards what looked like the back entrance to a warehouse.

  ‘What you got there, Hank?’ the lycan guarding the door asked. ‘She reeks of vampire.’

  ‘Yeah and lurking in an alley bleeding all over the place.’ Hank passed through the metal door held open for him and stomped along the bare corridor.

  They passed a few lycans sending intrigued glances in her direction, but she lowered her gaze from the humiliation, desperate for Hank to put her on her feet despite the pain.

  Hank shoved open another door and stepped into a large, vacuous room. He dropped her to her feet, Caitlin nearly yelping with the agony.

  She stumbled forward to have him catch her by her upper arms, forcing her down onto her knees, concrete scraping the skin.

  Ahead was a table, at least six lycans sat around it, cards held in their hands.

  She heard the scraping of a chair and her attention snapped to the only one who rose from the table and strolled towards her.

  Kane couldn’t smell her. There was a faint scent, but nothing strong enough to tell him she was close by. He sat bolt upright and scanned the room. The place was silent, void even of her breathing.

  His first thought was that she had done something stupid. He shoved back the sheets, kicked open the bathroom door and scanned its emptiness. He stepped over to the kitchen then stared across at the door.

  Hell, the girl was insane.

  His jacket had gone and with it his keys. He marched across to the TV and reached behind it to take the spare set of keys off the hook.

  He turned both keys in the lock and tugged. As he’d suspected, the door didn’t budge. She wouldn’t leave without bolting it from the other side. He slammed his hand in fury against it before storming back across to the bed.

  There was no way to say how long she’d gone. An hour maybe. But an hour was a long time in lycan territory. Her only saving grace would be that she smelled of him. Unless she came across rogue lycans stoned or drunk enough to be willing to take the risk with a pretty human girl. Or came face-to-face with her own kind – the worst of her own kind.

  He yanked on his shorts and jeans. He pulled on a T-shirt and hurriedly laced up his boots.

  The thought of anyone other than him with their hands on her, the thought of anyone hurting her, wrenched at his chest. But he knew that should be the last concern he had. The bigger concern was that she might, just might, get out of there. And it was going to be a hell of a bigger challenge getting her back than just slipping into her apartment.

  He clamped his hand around the bedpost and pulled the whole bed aside. He ripped the rug up from underneath, exposing the trapdoor. He released the catch, lifted the door and took the wooden ladder down into the darkness.

  He should have cuffed her. He should have known better. He should have known it would be what she’d be planning. But no one had ever slipped from him without disturbing him in his sleep before. No one. But she was stealthy and nimble and far too light on her feet. And he had slept deep. For some reason his sleep had been the most restful he’d had in a long time.

  He crossed the cellar and marched up the wooden ladder on the other side, yanking back the bolts on the trapdoor.

  Every single nerve ending sparked in anger but he also had a stirring in his gut that he didn’t like. Something he hadn’t felt for a long time. Something he didn’t want to acknowledge. But he recognised it and he hated it.

  Worry was an alien concept. Something he hadn’t felt since he’d lost Arana.

  He slammed back the door and stepped up into the garage, kicking the door shut behind him again.

  He marched over to the bench, took his car keys out of a metal tin in the drawer and stormed across to his car as the garage door began to open.

  She could be anywhere. With anyone.

  But she was a smart girl. She’d stay away from the crowds. She’d stay away from anyone who might recognise her. And once she realised she was in lycan territory she’d lay low because of the scent.

  She’d also put out a call for help if she got to a phone.

  He needed to find her quick.

  He wasn’t going to let it happen again. The thoughts of what he might find brought the painful, sickening memories back too hard and too fast.

  She was his to use. His and no one else’s.

  Pulling out onto the street, he dropped his phone onto the passenger seat. There was enough of a breeze that he’d pick up a scent. That others would pick up on the scent.

  He’d find her. Wherever she was.

  Because if anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself. Ever.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Caitlin watched the lycan leader approach, each of his heavy footsteps mindfully, tauntingly purposeful.

  ‘Well, well, well,’ Jask said, stopping in front of her. ‘Caitlin Parish. You’re a long way from home.’

  Pulling her shoulder from Hank’s grip, Caitlin glared up into Jask’s sharp azure eyes. Eyes intensified by the darker shade of his lashes and stubble, compared to his blond hair.

  He cocked his head to the side as he crouched in front of her, his loose, shoulder-length hair falling forward slightly with the motion. ‘Shouldn’t you be out somewhere chasing vampires?’

  ‘Tell him to get his hands off me,’ she said, yanking against Hank again.

  ‘With your reputation. I don’t think so. The girl who brought down Kane Malloy. Your name is all over this district. Even more than it usually is. Only I heard Kane had got his own back.’ He indicated for Hank to pull her back to her feet.

  For fear of her arms being wrenched out of her sockets, she conceded, hobbling slightly, trying to keep her weight on just one foot. She glanced at the other lycans sat around the table, then back at Jask.

  She’d seen pictures of him but they hadn’t done him justice. His chiselled features were more striking up close.

  He looked down at her bare feet and smiled an unnervingly wide smile. ‘Oh. I see.’

  She tried not to let her mind go there but she immediately pictured the images of Arana’s brutalised body. Vampires were notorious for bad press but she wasn’t naive to the capabilities of lycans. They may have been the more insular and easily contained of the third species, but only because of the effectiveness of the meds that had been perfected to manage their condition. What had happened to Arana was proof of their instincts when they weren’t effectively controlled.

  She glanced once more across at the table of them then warily back up at Jask.

  He w
as smart enough to keep himself to himself as far as the control units were concerned but she didn’t underestimate his potential. It took something to keep all those lycans in line. And it wasn’t all based on fair leadership and positive praise.

  ‘You let me go, Jask. Keeping an agent against their will is a serious offence—’

  ‘Save it, Caitlin. No one knows where you are because no one’s come looking. So forget the speech, you’re going nowhere.’ He indicated for Hank to let her go. He did so with such force she stumbled forward slightly before regaining her footing, hopping slightly to avoid the pressure on her foot. ‘You’re up to your neck in it, little lady, so don’t come shouting the odds in my territory. You haven’t got your army behind you now.’

  Caitlin brushed the hair from her eyes, glanced back over at the other lycans. Panic clenched her stomach. ‘You clearly need yours to back you up though, don’t you?’

  Jask breathed in slow and deeply through his nose, his gaze to the ceiling before he looked back at her with a smile. ‘Is that fear I smell?

  ‘What’s your problem with me, Jask? I’m nothing to do with you.’

  He laughed lightly. ‘Nothing to do with me?’ He looked around the room at his henchmen. ‘Did you hear that?’

  She followed his gaze, watched him warily.

  ‘You’ve got two of my boys in that big old containment unit of yours. I think that makes an agent of the regulations my business.’

  ‘We’ve got a lot of your boys in our containment unit. None of them are anything to do with me.’

  ‘But you know which boys I’m talking about, you being Kane’s biggest fan and all. You know exactly which two.’

  ‘They went in voluntarily. Full confession. Like I said, they’re nothing to do with me.’

  ‘You’ve read the reports then. You know what they did.’

  ‘I know exactly what they did. And that they deserved to be locked up for it. And that they came running with their tails between their legs proves what cowards they were.’

  As Jask lifted the back of his hand to strike, Caitlin caught her breath and braced herself.