Blood Shadows

by Lindsay J. Pryor

  As he opened the driver’s door and eased inside, her stomach flipped.

  ‘I am.’ He looked around the room to where the bodies on the floor were already starting to flinch and stir into consciousness. ‘You’re going to have a few questions to face though.’

  ‘What about Xavier? What about your vengeance on him now the soul ripper is gone?’

  ‘I’ve got plenty of time to catch up with him. And a few others by the sounds of it.’

  ‘Feinith?’

  ‘Oh yeah. Feinith is one for sure.’

  He leaned across the passenger seat to tuck the dagger inside the glove compartment along with the book.

  ‘What was Xavier talking about? What did he mean about what you needed for the prophecy?’

  Kane met her gaze fleetingly. It was a glance that told her that one was going to remain undisclosed. He switched the engine on.

  A sudden sense of loss clutched her stomach. He was leaving. Just like that, he was driving away. ‘You’re going? Now? I just nearly had my soul ripped out of me. I’ve just spent three days fighting for my life, and that’s it?’

  He looked back across at her. ‘What do you want, sweetheart – fireworks?’

  She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted him to utter those words again. She wanted him to pull her close and confirm every single word. She wanted, needed, to believe it could be true.

  She clenched her hands by her sides. She realised she was panicking, but it wasn’t like any kind of panic she’d ever known. She should have been itching to let him go. She should have been itching to get away from him. But instead she remained rooted to the spot, her throat arid, her legs weak.

  She also knew what she didn’t want – she didn’t want him to go. She didn’t want him to leave just like that. She didn’t want him to act like it was all nothing.

  But neither did she want him to laugh in her face or dismiss her if she told him. She didn’t want to embarrass herself any more than she clearly already had. Kane didn’t want her. Kane had never wanted her. Not beyond his own purpose. He had told her he loved her merely to get her to concede to give himself a chance at survival. He let her kill the soul ripper because she had saved him in the basement. He was making the score even, that was all. Making it even so he didn’t owe her anything. His pride, at least, would insist on that.

  There would be no fireworks – just a cold, dark night outside. An empty, lonely night.

  And with her vengeance gone, she didn’t even have a purpose.

  It hit her like a wall. It was over. It was all over. And now there was nothing.

  She pointed across at the lycans still bound and gagged. ‘What about them?’

  ‘They were leverage. Just like you were. Besides, their testimonies will come in useful.’

  ‘So you were never going to kill them?’

  ‘It was a condition Jask set before telling me the truth that night he came to find me.’

  ‘So you’re letting us all live?’

  ‘We had a deal, didn’t we?’

  A deal. A business arrangement. She gazed into his navy-blue eyes. As if she could think he was capable of anything else. She lowered her gaze, her swallow dry and painful.

  ‘Caitlin.’

  Her gaze snapped back to his, her heart skipping a beat.

  ‘You’re going to be okay,’ he said as he leaned his arm on the open window. ‘You know that, right?’

  Her heart pounded. She glanced back around the room as a couple of the soldiers started to ease themselves up onto their elbows, looking as dazed as if they’d been out for days. She looked back at Kane. ‘I can look after myself.’

  He held her gaze for a moment longer then lifted his hands on the steering wheel.

  ‘Wait!’ she said, taking a step forward, her throat so tight it was almost a struggle to breathe. ‘I’ll make sure the truth comes out.’

  Going against everything her heart was telling her to do, she took a step back again, creating the distance he clearly wanted.

  She had to stay resolute. It was less painful this way. Letting him go had to be less painful. And she had to do it while she still had the conviction. She was used to facing things alone and this was no different. She didn’t need him. She needed anything but him if she was going to get her life back on track. The last thing she needed was a broken heart. If any more threads that held it together were cut, she wasn’t sure it would ever repair again. And she knew Kane was more than capable of being the one to ruin her.

  She had to turn away. She had to walk away. It was the only way she’d know for sure if he cared enough to come after her. It was a risk, a bigger risk than anything else she had ever done because if Kane did leave, she knew the disappointment would be excruciating. But it was better that she did it then and saved herself the prolonged and inevitable pain of his eventual rejection.

  She wrapped her arms protectively around herself and took those few steps away from him. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and clenched her hands into fists as she pleaded for the car door to open, to hear his footsteps towards her.

  He’d take her in his arms. He’d pull her close. He’d reassure her that nothing else mattered. That they’d find a way to be together.

  Instead she heard the rev of the accelerator, she heard tyres scrape on concrete. And as Kane pulled away, driving through the bodies awake enough to roll out of his way, her heart broke.

  Caitlin stood alone with only the scent of night air, the chill encompassing her and melding the tears against her cheek as she watched him disappear into the darkness.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Caitlin sat at the café table, staring into her mug of coffee. The rain tapped against the window beside her, glistening against the darkness of Blackthorn, the coffee machines hissing in the distance.

  She should have gone straight home after the verdicts, but the thought of going back to the apartment filled her with an even greater sense of loneliness than being sat in this room full of strangers. That and the prospect of the barrage of journalists guaranteed to be camping outside her apartment. For just a couple of hours, she’d opt for feeling like a coward instead of a traitor – and no one would look for her across the border.

  Cold air swept into the room as the door opened. Three young women burst through the door, scanning the café for seats. Spotting the empty booth next to hers, they rustled towards her, chatting and giggling.

  Caitlin stared back into her mug. Their sudden hush told her they’d noticed and recognised her. The case had been plastered across every news channel all day, let alone the three days leading up to it. It was the biggest scandal the VCU had ever faced, and the whole of the Third Species Control Division were out to prove their worth in the face of adversity. Xavier had been disowned along with Max and Rob as rogues amidst an otherwise morally flawless organisation. The fact that Caitlin had given the key testimonial was the biggest shock of all to the establishment. If she’d been held in contempt by her colleagues before, now she was well and truly hated, and not least because of her reinstatement.

  After what she was sure were a few mouthed words and overdramatic eye-jerking in her direction, the women’s chatter resumed, albeit more hushed.

  Caitlin glanced back out onto the rain-soaked street. Rob couldn’t even look at her when he’d been led away. But it was the resolution in Max’s eyes that hurt her the most. And when he’d looked at her across the courtroom after the decision of guilty was made, there hadn’t been anger in his eyes, but pride. Whether as his agent or his stepdaughter, maybe both, he’d told her in that single lingering gaze that she’d done the right thing. It caught in her throat even then and she fought back the tears, stared back into her mug in the hope no one would notice.

  Kane hadn’t turned up at the courthouse. Too big a part of her had hoped he would. She’d checked out the gallery but there had been no sign of him. She’d hoped to linger outside for a little while afterwards, but the journalists who’d been forced
to wait outside had posed too great a threat. The only one she’d come across was Jask. The fact he’d been sat in the lobby when he’d had no reason to hang about after his testimony confirmed he’d been waiting for her.

  ‘We’re not done yet,’ he’d said as she’d stepped past him.

  She’d stopped and stared down at the mosaic floor despite knowing she should have kept walking. She’d turned to face him, his azure gaze penetrating deep into hers.

  It had been his testimony that had sealed the verdict, along with the testimonies of the two lycans who’d committed the act.

  ‘You heard the verdict, Jask.’

  ‘You think ten years is enough? Twenty for Xavier? Do you think they’re even going to serve that time?’

  ‘That’s out of my hands,’ she’d said, turning away.

  ‘But you’re not out of mine.’

  She’d stopped again. Turned to face his rigid gaze.

  He’d stood steadily from his ornate mahogany chair, his broad six-foot frame domineering the short distance between them.

  ‘I don’t know why Kane let you live,’ Jask had said. ‘But I wouldn’t rest easy if I were you. If he doesn’t finish this properly, I will. Those boys in there are owed. Fourteen years of their life at least. Their families are owed. I’m responsible for seeing that happens.’

  ‘I put everything on the line to see that the truth came out. I can’t do anything more.’

  ‘Do you think your laws make any difference to us? We have our own lores. There are going to be a lot of angry lycans out there. In this locale and others. I’ve got to be seen to be doing something if Kane isn’t. I only let you off because I had his assurance that he would deal with this.’ He’d stepped around the back of her. ‘I’m giving him a few days and then I want to see some damaged goods, or I’ll see to it myself.’

  Caitlin’s breath had caught in her throat. She hadn’t dared turn to face him, hadn’t dared given him the opportunity to look back into her eyes because she would have said something she’d have regretted. She would have laid down a challenge she wasn’t sure she could meet.

  Because as she’d stood alone in that lobby, as the only people she had left had been led down to containment, as she’d left that courthouse and walked the dark streets of Lowtown and into the top end of Blackthorn, she knew that’s exactly what she was now – totally alone.

  And she knew the real reason why she had resolved to cross the border – and it wasn’t all about being a coward.

  She pushed her coffee aside, unable to face the tepid liquid.

  ‘So is he as good as they say?’

  Caitlin’s attention snapped to the three young women as she searched for the one who had spoken.

  The woman who sat the furthest away widened her heavily made-up brown eyes expectantly. ‘Worth grassing on your own family for, I mean.’

  They were all human. She could see that now.

  The one sat next to her sniggered. ‘Honey, I’d be tempted to give up my own kids for a night with him.’

  Caitlin met each of their expectant stares in turn – stares that were a mixture of accusation, curiosity and jealousy.

  She had to keep her mouth shut, that’s what she’d been told. She spoke to no one or the thread her job was already hanging by would be cut. They were waiting for an excuse. They only kept her on to reinforce the image they had created that they were representing justice. She was their mascot of proof of that. At least for the time being.

  She grabbed her jacket and scarf and slipped out of the booth.

  ‘Word is he’s done with you now,’ one of the other women called out behind her. ‘So does that mean he’s open to offers?’

  Caitlin yanked open the door and stepped back out into the darkness. At least the rain had ceased. The chill to her face was instant, small puffs of warm exhalation mingling with the night air. But she was sure the way her skin prickled was about more than the temperature. She’d never so brazenly hung around Blackthorn at night, so lost for what to do. It created a feeling of paranoia and she found herself scanning the street warily as she felt she was being watched. A few more passers-by sent her fleeting stares but said nothing. It was a bad idea. She knew she was asking for trouble, but something in her just didn’t care. She’d find another café – somewhere to wile away a couple more hours until deciding to go and face the awaiting mob.

  Maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she’d find a room somewhere and keep her head down for a couple of days. Maybe she could wake up when it was all over.

  A few people nudged past her, chatting and laughing, a couple engrossed in a discussion she only caught part of, all exacerbating her sense of isolation more.

  She glanced up at the dense cloud weighing heavily with threat of further rain.

  She looked across the street, almost by instinct.

  Her heart pounded, every tiny hair on the back of her neck standing on end as he looked back across at her. She didn’t need the clear light of the moon to know it was him, she felt it – a dangerous sense of elation albeit one overwhelmed by the feeling it was about to be extinguished.

  From the shadows across the street, Kane had watched her in the café.

  She’d sat alone in a booth, staring into the mug she’d barely drunk from the entire time she’d been there. She’d been absorbed in her own world in a way he’d come to know only too well watching her all those years. Only now he’d touched her, tasted her, seen parts of her that no one else had seen. And she’d seen too much of him. Far too much.

  He’d had her followed from Lowtown and across the border, had received the call as to the café she had entered.

  He also knew the results of the verdict. He knew of what she had been put through on the stand when they had questioned her loyalty to him compared with her loyalty to her unit. She’d done an amazing job apparently, even though they’d torn her apart in the stand, with the testimonies of other agents, including Brovin and Morgan, letting leak what they termed her fixation with Kane. But he knew it wasn’t just about him. It wasn’t just about Arana. For Caitlin it had been about justice and doing the right thing. It was about her standing up for the ideals that she believed in – that the unit could do good work. And she wanted to prove that they weren’t all corrupted. She was doing her bit to retain the peace that could implode in the district. It was damage limitation in her eyes – not that her opposition saw it that way. That she believed there were those who needed to be defended. That some kind of order needed to be maintained.

  Unfortunately, she’d always believe that that order had to be from humans.

  He’d watched her as she’d stepped out onto the pavement – hesitant, lost, wary – pulling on her coat and wrapping her scarf around her. And he’d followed her as she’d kept her eyes downturned. This was not agent Parish walking through Blackthorn; it was Caitlin with all her official status stripped away. It was irresponsible of her, naïve and careless. Stupid even. She was the easiest picking on the street. Lucky for her that word was already out that nobody touched her. That he hadn’t finished.

  He was far from finished.

  He didn’t know what had made her look up but as if by instinct, she’d snatched her gaze across to his. He’d felt a jolt through him, her beautiful eyes widening in mixed emotions.

  They could have been completely alone on the street for all anyone else mattered at that moment – the moment they’d connected again.

  But Caitlin didn’t stop. She didn’t back away. She didn’t run the way she’d come. She looked back ahead and kept walking down the parallel side of the street.

  At first he wondered if it was some kind of trap, and she most definitely the honey. But he’d been watching long enough to know she was very much alone. And if she had been on the job of snaring him, she would have been more alert, more purposeful. He knew her too well not to be able to recognise the signs of that rare occasion when her defences were down. But then again, she was the only one who could surprise him. The only o
ne who could ever throw him off guard.

  Regardless, she was well and truly in his territory – alone, accessible and deliciously vulnerable. And it was the alone that she clearly wanted – alone with him. She knew he’d follow. He liked to think she wouldn’t have dared stroll deeper and deeper into Blackthorn if she suspected otherwise. Because he could so easily leave her to weave herself into her own demise, sauntering along those dark, rundown, isolated streets. The high square heels of the smart black dolly shoes she’d worn to court echoed lightly over the concrete as she turned down a side street, the flare of her demure grey dress blowing lightly against her knees.

  He took a cigarette from the inside pocket of his jacket and stopped only for a moment to ignite the tip before continuing behind her, keeping just the right distance for her to know he was there, and so she couldn’t slip out of his sight. Not that he wouldn’t find her again. It was just whether someone else found her first.

  They passed the wrought-iron bars that enclosed what was once one of the grand houses when it had been the heart of a city. Now it was as dilapidated as the rest of the buildings that couldn’t be spared the expense of maintenance. She avoided the cobbles and kept to the paving before crossing over and down another dark stretch.

  She clearly wanted to make sure they weren’t going to be seen. And if they were being followed – by the press, other agents or anyone else who thought they might try their chances – she’d given Kane plenty of time to detect them and eradicate them.

  This was purely between them. Every instinct told him that. Caitlin was looking to wrap this up as much as he was.

  Halfway down the bleak cobbled street, she turned slowly to face him.

  He stopped, exhaled a steady stream of smoke that dissipated into the cool air. She wanted to rein that little bit of control she had. She wanted to take the lead.

  She really should have learned by now.

  As rain started to bounce on the cobbles, glistening against the backdrop of the only two un-smashed streetlamps, she took a right into the open porch of one of the abandoned houses.