Chapter 14
Drake and Charlie shimmered into the foyer of Cate and Jason’s house. A beam of light shot down from the ceiling, roamed over their bodies and scanned them, then blinked out.
“Hey, I’m home,” Charlie yelled as she passed into the massive hallway where a blue Denai star had been engraved into the marble to match the pale blue walls. “Dad?”
A blur of colour shot towards them and leapt straight at Charlie. “Char!” screeched a delighted voice.
“Whoa. Hi, Tom-Tom.” She wrapped her arms around her six-year-old brother. “Wow, you’re so big now.” She ruffled his mop of unruly dark hair.
Tommy grinned. “You bring me presents?”
“Indeed we did.” A toy car appeared in Drake’s hand.
“Thanks, Uncle Drake.” He grabbed the toy and ran down the hall. They followed after an excited Tommy as he chatted away as he led Charlie upstairs.
A redheaded woman appeared. “Hey, I didn’t know you were coming home.” Jade, Charlie’s stepmother, wrapped her in a warm hug.
“Hi, Jade. Where’s my dad?”
“Upstairs in his office, working. You know what he’s like,” Jade said, rolling her green eyes. “We’re just about to have some lunch, want to join us? Maybe you can drag Steve out too.”
Charlie smiled. Only Jade understood her workaholic father the way Charlie did. “I need to talk to him. It’s important. I’ll see you guys later.”
“I’ll join you,” Drake said to Jade. “Tommy, I don’t believe we finished building that castle last time I was here.” Charlie watched Drake walk away. Weird, she hadn’t expected him to be great with kids. But she learned there was much more to him than she could have imagined.
Steve stared at his numerous computer screens when Charlie walked into his office. He spun around and wrapped his arms around her. “Goddess, I’ve missed you. Why were you holding hands with Drake?”
“Hello to you too, Dad,” she said with a wry smile as she pulled away from him.
Steve ran a hand through his unruly dark curls. “I saw you come in on the house screen. You’ve come to tell me your bonded, haven’t you?” Steve had always been wary of Drake too.
She shook her head. “No. Dad, Drake’s a good man. I care about him. Like it or not, he’s part of my life now. I–”
“So you are a couple now?” Steve expression remained neutral.
“Not exactly.” She bit her lip. She hadn’t come to talk about Drake and knew it wouldn’t be easy getting Steve to talk about her mother.
“What about Scott? He rang me a couple of weeks ago, asking for my blessing.”
Charlie’s heart skipped a beat. Goddess, I’d better talk to him. Tell him it’s over. I can’t lead him on, not when I’m starting to have feelings for Drake. Scott planned on proposing? Shit, she hadn’t seen that one coming.
“Scott and I aren’t together anymore.” She sighed. “Look, I need to talk about Mum.” She saw the familiar pain in his bright blue eyes. Despite being married to his true soul mate now, she knew he lost part of himself when her mum had died in childbirth.
“What about her?”
“Things have been happening to me recently. I think my demon side is emerging. Do you know what kind of demon Mum was?” She perched on one of the stools and waited for his response.
“She told me she was half Zexen but she never liked talking about it. There’s not much to tell,” he told her. “Your mum never spoke of her past, she said it didn’t matter because her future was with me.”
“How long did you know each other?” She rested her elbow on the worktop, realising how much she’d wanted to know all these things.
“We saw each other on and off over the centuries but we started dating about thirty years ago, married a couple of years later which was two years before she got pregnant.” He rubbed the top of his nose. “Four years – that’s nothing to an immortal. I loved her, part of me always will. I knew we weren’t soulmates—not like life mates are—but we were happy.”
“Didn’t she tell you anything about her past? How old was she?” She’d tried asking things before but Steve had always been reluctant to tell her much.
“She was over three thousand. I know age doesn’t matter much after a few centuries,” Steve said. “Why are you asking so much? You could call your mum in spirit and ask her all these things yourself.”
“I tried to before we left, she wouldn’t come.” Charlie shook her head. “Dad, I did a DNA test back at Drake’s lab. There is no trace of Zexen in my blood and from the look of it my Denai powers were passed on through you, not her. Did you ever do any tests on me?”
Steve frowned, turning his attention back to the numerous screens. “You’re my daughter, why would I?” Charlie touched his arm and he sighed. “Okay, yeah I did, but it was to test me, not her.”
Her mouth fell open. “You thought you weren’t my dad?”
He looked away. “For a while yes, but the result wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”
Charlie hugged him again, feeling a tear drip down her cheek. “The test said there is no match on what kind of demon I am.” She pulled up the results on screen to show him.
Steve tapped a few keys to search the databases but no match came back. “From the looks of it Helena wasn’t a Denai at all but a full blood something. Maybe not even a demon,” he observed. “Goddess, I had no idea.”
Charlie nodded, she’d suspected as much. “Oh, I’m half demon – of some kind. I can sense it.”
After leaving the manor, they headed back to Drake’s house. Charlie still felt weak from the beating the day before but Drake’s energy had taken the edge off.
Drake came back in carrying a mug of coffee. “What is it?”
“I think I found something, come look.” He sat beside her but she noticed him keeping his distance.
“What’s wrong? Why don’t you want to be near me?” She frowned.
“Not you. That.” He motioned to the book.
“Why?” She glanced between him and the book.
“I know the legends of that book. It can electrocute people.”
“Only people it views a threat, which you aren’t.” Charlie shoved the book closer to him. A picture of a blue orb had been drawn on a page. “Said to be a weapon of great power. It will protect itself from any who try to search for it. Only one can control it, one each uses to be its guardian,” Charlie read.
Drake peered at the page. “That’s it? Does it mention who the guardian is?”
She flipped the page. “Only the guardian shall be unaffected by power.” She bit her lip. “That fits me.”
“It would make sense. The blast killed everyone in that warehouse but you. You weren’t even burned when I found you.”
“If I am its guardian, why can’t I find the damn thing? We have no idea where it went after it was at the warehouse.”
Drake rubbed his chin. “What if it never left?”
“What do you mean? My witness – okay, maybe he wasn’t a real witness, but no one saw it afterwards.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not still there. Magical artefacts are notorious for their stealth abilities.”
Drake shimmered them into the warehouse. “Do you really think it’s still here?” Charlie let go of his hand. “If it is, why would it stay here? The book said it moves and stays with its guardian.”
“Maybe you have to call for it first.”
Charlie took a deep breath, let it out. Being back here made her want to run but she wouldn’t let fear best her. “How do I summon it?” She hesitated. This thing had killed her team; did she even want to find it? Yes, if it helped bring the killers to justice.
“Personal feelings aside, we can’t let the Srimtar fall into the wrong hands,” Drake pointed out, clutching her hand. “I know this will be hard for you, but Goodridge must want it for a reason.”
Charlie sighed, glancing around the concrete floor with its weeds and bits of broken debris. “O
kay, Srimtar, come out. Appear, or whatever it is you do.”
Drake’s lips curved into a smile, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t think it works like that, little witch.”
She groaned, closed her eyes. Okay, demon, do your thing, find the damn orb.
Blue light flashed, casting an eerie glow around the room as a small glowing crystal sphere appeared at her feet. “Wow, it’s so little.” Charlie bent down, picked it up. It fit into her palm and seemed to swirl with stars when she examined it. “So much death for such a small thing.” She rolled it in her hand and felt power hum against her skin. So much power in such a tiny object.
Drake tensed and pulled away from her. “Someone’s here. Don’t let that orb out of you sight.” He stalked away.
“Hey, you’re not leaving me here.” She grabbed his arm.
“Protect the Srimtar.” Drake vanished in a blur of light.
Charlie muttered a curse and then glared at the orb. You better be worth it. She opened her bag to shove it inside but then noticed it glowing again. An image of Drake appeared in the desert with golden sand covering the horizon. He glanced back, then walked away, disappearing into darkness. “What the hell does that mean?” she muttered to herself.
Outside a loud explosion went off. She stuffed the orb into her bag and carried it outside. Moret stood hurling fireballs at Drake, then he opened fire with an automatic. Charlie grabbed Drake’s arm, their bodies blurring as she fazed, causing the bullets to pass straight through them. “We need him alive,” she hissed.
She turned on her new comm link. “Kaz, Nigel, we could do with some backup here.”
“On our way,” Kaz said in her ear.
Charlie ducked, feeling her heart pounding. Goddess, now wasn’t the time for a panic attack!
Focus, Drake told her. You can do this.
She felt her back pulsing with energy but she ignored it. Somehow she knew she was meant to protect it. You keep him busy, I’ll go from behind. She ducked out of sight, fazing into the concrete. Moving through the hard ground, she glanced up and saw where Moret stood. Leaping back up, she kicked him and knocked the gun from his grasp. He blocked the next blow, punching her in the face.
She stumbled back and blocked his next attack.
Drake grabbed hold of him, trying to wrench his arms back. Moret elbowed Drake, sending him crashing to the ground. “Where’s the orb?” Moret snarled at Charlie, aiming a gun at her head. “I know you have it, I can sense it.”
Charlie kicked, spun around and punched. She was surprised by her sudden strength. She didn’t know if it came from the Srimtar, her emerging demon side, or both. As they fought she knocked his gun away.
Drake grabbed Moret again; instinctively Charlie grabbed his throat. Power surged from her into him. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Phew!” She breathed a sigh of relief as Drake hugged her.
“We did it, little witch.”
She pulled away as Kaz’s car drew up. “There’s something I have to do.”
Charlie went straight back into the warehouse. The fear she’d felt had passed, instead she felt a strange calm settle over her as she held the glowing Srimtar. “I won’t let your deaths mean nothing,” she murmured. “I won’t walk away from the job. I’ll carry on fighting in your names until I bring down Goodridge.” She sniffed, feeling a tear drip down her cheek. “I miss you all.” More tears started flowing.
Orbs of white light appeared, falling into the billowing form of her former partner. Nat grinned. “Knew you had it in you, girl.”
Charlie wiped away her tears and half laughed as relief washed over her. “I’m sorry I blocked you out. I was scared you’d blame me.”
“It’s not your fault, McCray. We all know that,” Nat said. “Don’t ignore your power either.”
“I miss you – all of you.”
Nat shook her head. “You know we’ll always have your back, even in the spirit world.” Nat held out her hand. Charlie gripped it, making contact with solid flesh thanks to her medium abilities. “Keep that demon around too. He’s hot.”
Charlie laughed. “Yeah, he is.”
Chapter 15
After Moret had been taken into custody and charged, Drake took the team to the club to celebrate the victory. Charlie sat with Kaz and Nigel at the bar. Strangely, he found he rather liked working with all of them.
“Here’s to our first case together.” Kaz held up her beer.
“I’ll drink to that.” Drake raised his own glass.
“Hey, does that mean you’re leaving us now?” Kaz asked him.
Charlie glanced at him too. Are you? she asked.
The club became silent as Drake suspended everyone in time. “You found the orb,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, but we still have to find and capture Goodridge. I doubt he’ll stop coming after me just because we caught Moret and charged him with murder,” she remarked. “Besides, you’re not so bad to have around.” She reached over and squeezed his hand. “Hey, about we get out of here? Go and have a real date?”
He smiled. “Where would you like to go?”
Her grin turned mischievous. “How about we go home? I’m sure we can celebrate there.”
“You’re staying with me then?”
“The threat’s not over yet, is it? I could stay longer.” He leaned over the bar to kiss her.
“Drake?” Phil called as he came into the room. “There’s a message for you in your office.”
Drake muttered a curse. “Leave it there,” he growled. He wanted to finally spend some time with his witch, not worry about the club. Nothing was that important.
Phil shook his head. “It’s urgent. Trust me, boss, you’ll want to see this.”
He sighed, moved around the bar and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
“It’s okay,” Charlie said. “Just don’t take too long.”
As the club unfroze, he walked to his office and cast his senses out when he saw a familiar face walking to the bar.
Scott.
What the hell is he doing here? Drake closed his office door but kept his senses on alert as he listened in. Damn it, he finally had Charlie to himself, and now Scott had reappeared.
He spotted a folded piece of parchment on his desk. How archaic. No one used parchment any more except some of the very old immortals.
“What are you doing here?” He heard Charlie ask.
“I heard you arrested someone in connection with your team’s murder.” Scott said. “I came to see if you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. We should talk.” Her tone sounded neutral. Drake wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear more but forced himself to listen.
“I miss you, Char. I know it’s been a rough few months, but I want you back.”
“Scott…”
“Char, we’re meant to be together. Drake’s lying. He only created a connection to you because he’s tired of being alone,” Scott insisted.
She sighed. “Look, we can’t talk here. Meet me at outside in a few minutes.”
Drake stopped listening, not wanting to hear more. He pulled the parchment open and saw the words written in spiralling scrawl: come home.
No, that was impossible. He wouldn’t contact him, not after all the centuries. I have to go, I have to find out.
The door opened as Charlie came in dressed in a short black dress and heels, she looked beautiful. His heart ached just staring at her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. “You look – different.”
“I’m fine.” He shoved the scroll into his jacket. “Ready to go?”
Charlie hesitated. There it was. “No, I need to take care of something first.”
“Scott.”
“I need to talk to him.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, something she did when nervous.
“Fine, go. I have more important matters to take care of anyway.” He waved a hand. Damn it, he needed a way out of there, without her asking any ques
tions.
She grabbed his arm. “Drake, don’t be like that.”
He shrugged off her touch. His heart twisted but he knew what he had to do. “I have to leave. You need to choose. Me or Scott, which is it?”
Her dark eyes widened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean choose, Charlotte. I won’t share you and I don’t think he will either. So choose, right now.”
She bit her lip, hissing out a breath. “I need to—”
“I’m tired of waiting for you to choose me. Perhaps we should just end things now before we go any further.”
Charlie shook her head. “Drake, I... Things were going great between us. I thought we agreed to take things slow.”
“I’m not asking you to bond with me but I at least expected…” He sighed. “You’ve made your choice. There’s nothing more to say.” He pushed past her.
She ran after him. “You can’t just leave like this. I need time to—”
He pulled her head up, kissed her hard. This kiss was filled with years of longing and unresolved tension. She returned the kiss with just as much passion. Her eyes widened as he pulled away, muttering words of power. Something inside him snapped, leaving an empty void. It might not last long but it’d be enough to make his escape. He didn’t want to leave her but knew he must now.
She gasped, clutching her chest. “What have you done?”
“I broke our link. You’re free – just like you always wanted,” he told her. “Goodbye, Charlotte.”
“Drake, wait!” she cried as he shimmered away.
The emptiness became replaced by physical ache as he moved through the different planes of existence. Miles of desert stretched in front of him as he materialised. He pulled the parchment out of his suit jacket. The demon he’d been before was gone now. He thought about shimmering back to the house of supplies but the only thing that truly mattered to him he’d already left behind. He’d never see her again. But at least he’d had her, even if only for a very short time. He loved her too, even if she didn’t know it. He never thought he’d love anyone again. Goodbye, Charlotte. He strode along heated sands, wondering what lay for him on the other side
Shadow Walker: (Urban fantasy romance) (Shadow Walker Trilogy Book 1) Page 10