Shadow

by Jan Stryvant

  "Okay, this is the hard part. Don't say a word or move a muscle," he told her and turning to her he grabbed her arm and started to bend over. Suddenly he froze again.

  "What are you doing?" she hissed at him.

  "Saving your life. Now shut up and cooperate."

  Suddenly he could move again and he threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Then he shifted into his stealth form. It wasn't as effective when he was carrying someone else, but it was better than nothing and he suspected she wasn't going to let him put her in the large sack he'd brought along.

  He noticed her wings had disappeared as he started down the hallway. That would help quite a bit, those things were huge.

  It took him more than three hours to get out of Laughing Boy's headquarters. He was sure when Laughing Boy heard about this; he'd be on the warpath for sure. When the word went through the underground earlier tonight that Laughing Boy had gotten his hands on that new exotic that had recently joined the super's team, Shadow had been sitting in his booth at Bell's talking with Carl and Liz. Some rather crude remarks had gone back and forth and Shadow bet everyone that he could steal The Angel out from under Laughing Boy's nose, and have her back at his apartment in his bed before Laughing Boy even knew it.

  They all remembered what he'd done to Fiona of course, so several folks had called his bluff and a rather large bet suddenly had been made. As far as Shadow was concerned, it was the perfect excuse for what he knew he was going to have to do anyway.

  Well, except for the getting her in bed part. Hopefully after he explained it to her, she'd be willing to lie for him like Fiona had. He could use the money from winning the bet after all.

  "Thank you," she said to him, when they finally came out of the last doorway. For Shadow it had been a tiring exercise of dodging patrols, traps, guards, climbing through crawl spaces, HVAC spaces, drop ceilings, cable runs and wet walls with her on his back the entire time. More than once he'd had to retrace his steps to avoid someone, or take a detour that made their escape take even longer.

  "Save your thanks, we're not done yet," Shadow warned her.

  "Where are we going?"

  "My place."

  "What! Put me down!"

  Shadow stopped and did as she told him, not having any choice.

  "Let me do this," he told her.

  "I'm not going back to your house so you can rape me like those men I was going to be sold to!" she hissed at him.

  "Stop being stupid. You're controlling me, besides; I don't want to rape you."

  She looked at him with that surprised look again; he would have scratched his head if he could have moved.

  "But you said you wanted to, when you opened up my cell!"

  "No, I was going to say I wanted to sleep with you, but I didn't think you'd want to," Shadow rolled his eyes, which was about all he could do. "Sure I want to take you to bed, you're gorgeous. Now let me take you back to my place and I'll call Tomas."

  She looked at him warily. "You'll call Tomas?" She said in a surprised voice.

  "Of course, we have to figure out how we're going to cover this up. Everyone thinks I'm stealing you because I made a bet I could. Everyone knows I don't like Laughing Boy."

  She blinked, "And they believed you?"

  Shadow smirked, "Wellll, they also think I'm going to have my way with you, just like I did with Fiona."

  "But you said you didn't rape her!"

  "But they don't know that!" Shadow said, still smirking. "Now, can we?"

  "Do you have to carry me?"

  "Yes."

  She sighed. "Fine."

  Shadow picked her back up, and continued back on his way. It was another hour's walk to get to his apartment, and he went by Bell's, dropping his stealth effect as he did.

  He could hear the cheers from inside the bar out on the street as he passed, even with the front door closed.

  "What was that?" she asked.

  "My reputation," Shadow snickered and picked up speed.

  When they got inside his apartment he set her down and went over to the refrigerator.

  "Can I get you anything to drink? Some food? I'm starving so I'm going to make breakfast."

  "Where's your bathroom?" The Angel asked.

  "Through that door," Shadow pointed. "Please don't leave until I've talked to Tomas and worked all of this out with him."

  "Why?" she asked, looking at him.

  "Because now it's my life that's on the line," he said and shrugged. "People find out I've been helping Tomas, and my ass is dead."

  Shadow noticed she gave him that look again.

  "Are you saying," she said softly, "that you help Tomas rescue people?"

  Shadow nodded, "Yes. When I heard you were caught, I figured I had to move quickly, before he got all his people in place. You saw how they were still setting up more defenses when we left. Laughing Boy has been itching for a war with the feds since they tried to have him arrested years ago. I guess he's finally gotten tired of having to constantly hide from them and figured capturing you would sucker them in."

  Shadow turned back to getting food out of the fridge. "So, hungry?"

  "No, thank you." she said and left him to his cooking and went to use the bathroom. Using her magic she cast a hearing spell and just listened to him preparing food as she thought about what he'd just told her. After a couple of minutes she heard him speak.

  "Hello, Tomas," she head him say, then there was a pause for a moment.

  "Already got her," she heard him laugh.

  There was another pause then, "She's fine, she's in the bathroom. But don't call off the search just yet. I don't anyone to think she's safe yet." She heard him pause again, then, "Look, I'm starving and I'm exhausted. We can work out the details later."

  Another pause.

  "What? Oh, hell no! She'd kill me if I tried anything like that! I'm not so sure she even needed me to rescue her! Okay, bye!" and he hung up.

  She took a few more minutes to do her business, then washed up and came out to see him cooking a huge omelet on the stove.

  "I called Tomas and let him know you were alright," Shadow said as he heard her enter the kitchen.

  "I heard," she said and going over to the fridge she got out a beer and opening it she sat down and watched him cook.

  He finished fairly quickly, put everything on a plate, there certainly was a lot of it, and then systematically demolished it as she watched him eat.

  "You're not evil, are you?" she said to him as he was finishing.

  Shadow shook his head, "No, but I'm not all that good anymore either."

  "They say you've killed a lot of people."

  Shadow nodded, "Yeah, but if they knew the real truth they'd probably freak out."

  "Why's that?"

  "Because they'd all start worrying that I might kill them too," he chuckled.

  "Then why did you save me?"

  Shadow picked up his plate and silverware and put it in the dishwasher.

  "You gotta protect the innocent, the women, children, the people who do good in this life," he said with a shrug.

  "Then why are you in the underground? Why aren't you uptown with Tomas and us?"

  Shadow sighed and looked at her, "I killed a man tonight to find out where you were so I could get in there and save you. I don't care that I killed him; I have no regrets that I killed him, and I didn't even think twice about doing it. Yes, he was evil; he was some slaver guy that Laughing Boy called to sell you to.

  "I kill people, Angel. It's what I do," Shadow shrugged, "I'd say I'm not proud of it, but I'd probably be lying."

  "But you only kill bad people, right?"

  Shadow nodded.

  "How do you know?"

  He shrugged, "I just do. Why the twenty questions?"

  Angel smiled at him, "I'm curious about you, and I feel really bad about taking you over like that, I've never told anyone that I can do it, and well, you're the first person I've ever taken over completely like th
at.

  "I've heard a lot of bad things about you, Shadow, and they told me that I was going to be sold off as a sex toy to be used and abused until my mind was broken. So when you opened up the cage, I just assumed the worst."

  Shadow just gave a small nod of his head, she must have been terrified, he did have quite the reputation. "In that case, I don't blame you. And I'm not just saying that, I mean it."

  "I know."

  Shadow flicked an ear, and gave her a quizzical look. "Oh? And how do you know?"

  "Because I can tell when people are lying. You can't lie to me. No one can."

  "I didn't call Tomas earlier, I was faking it."

  "That's a lie," she smiled.

  "I can show you pleasure in bed like no man ever has before!" Shadow grinned.

  "Well, you believe it at least," she laughed.

  Shadow smiled back at her and thought about that for a minute, then he frowned.

  "You know, it must be hard on you, going through life day to day, knowing when people are lying to you. It must play hell on your relationships too."

  "I'm sure it's not easy being a dispassionate killer either," she said, frowning back at him.

  Shadow shrugged; obviously he had hit a sore point. "You get used to it. It's why I live in the bad part of town and run around in the underground with the bad guys. Well, that and the incredibly hot gals who follow them," he said and winked at her. "But down here I'm just another bad guy. I'm not just a freak who looks like a cat. I don't stand out any more than anyone else and I don't have to hide who or what I am. Everyone down here knows I kill, but they know I follow the code, so instead of being feared, I'm respected."

  "The code?"

  "What I said before, about women and children and the innocent. You don't prey on those folks. You show respect to the people with power, who've earned it. You keep your word, you pay your debts. It's old, some say it comes from the old organized crime bosses, others say it came from chivalry," he said with a shrug.

  "What's your real name?"

  "Don't ask me that," he sighed, "I'm trying not to be that guy anymore."

  "Mine's Shirley."

  Shadow blinked and walked over to her, and kneeled on the floor before her bringing his head level with his. She really was quite beautiful. And obviously way too trusting. He wasn't the kind of person a woman like her should be trusting, not when he was starting to entertain ideas about just how to get her to join him in bed.

  "You shouldn't have told me that! What if I use it against you?"

  Shirley smiled at him, "You won't."

  "Oh? Fine. Sleep with me or I'll tell everyone."

  "You're lying."

  Shadow swore and she laughed. He looked up at her, "I really want to get you in bed. You're very attractive, and I like you."

  "I can tell," she smiled again, "even without the built-in lie detector."

  "I know you feel bad about using me, sleep with me and I'll forgive you."

  "You already did," she pointed out.

  "I knew I should have waited," he sighed and she laughed. She had a nice laugh. He knew he shouldn't do this, but, what the hell.

  "My name's Sean," he said, looking into her eyes.

  "Sean?" she asked, smiling at him.

  "Yes."

  "You're right though, I really do feel bad about what I did, even if you have forgiven me," she said looking a little embarrassed.

  "I'll make you a deal."

  "What kind of a deal?" she asked, looking at him suspiciously, but he noticed she still had a little bit of a smile.

  "I have a really nice set of brushes by the couch. You spend an hour brushing out my fur, and we'll call it even."

  Shirley looked at him a moment.

  "You must really like to get brushed."

  "Ever meet a cat that didn't?" he purred.

  Shirley laughed and shook her head, "No, I guess not."

  "Fine!" he said and popping up on to his feet and pulling off his shirt he walked into the living room and collapsed down onto the couch, face first.

  Shirley almost laughed at the way he was sprawled out on the couch. Walking over she picked up the two brushes, one in each hand and started in on his dark coat.

  Shadow sighed and purred, yeah, they weren't having sex, but damn if this wasn't just as good.

  Half an hour later, Shirley was straddling his buttocks, his tail curled around her waist. His fur looked so much nicer now, being fully brushed out, and the muscles she'd discovered under there. Then of course there was that deep rumbling purr of his. Sitting on top of him like this, it was vibrating through her body rather pleasantly.

  She was starting to have second thoughts about him. He'd been completely honest with her, even before he knew he couldn't lie to her, and it seemed he had a stronger set of morals than even a lot of the supers she'd met so far.

  And he was rather sexy looking.

  As well as dangerous.

  She wondered just what it would be like to share his bed? The rumors she'd read in the intelligence reports had painted a pretty positive picture on that score.

  And she hadn't slept with anyone since joining the team, longer actually. He'd been dead on target with his comment about her truth sensing abilities messing up her romantic life. It had been a while. Quite a while. She had her own needs and here she was with a hot sexy guy who supposedly knew how to please a woman.

  "Sean?"

  "Shirley?" he replied drowsily.

  "Let's go to bed."

  Shadow's eyes got wide and rolling over onto his back he purred rather loudly and sat up as she got off of him. Standing up he smiled down at her, and pulling her close he kissed her softly, slowly, taking his time to savor her taste, her smell. Then picking her up carefully, he carried her to his bedroom.

  It was later, a lot later. The sun had set. Shadow laid there next to her, with her cuddled up against him and reflected on how he'd actually won his bet, but was starting to think about lying and saying he didn't. It wasn't just that the sex had been fantastic, or that she was easily as kinky as he was. It was just that they'd spent a lot of time talking about their lives and their outlook when they rested between each round of lovemaking. He hadn't told her yet about his life prior to coming here of course, that could wait for another time. But he had told her why he'd come here, and about his life since then.

  He had told her about himself, about the man and the cat, and how they existed together as one. And she'd told him about her life; about her growing up, discovering her gifts, she had several powerful ones, and about her learning to use them. She also admitted to him that it was pure stupidity, plus a lack of experience, that had gotten her in trouble. She'd been far too trusting of people and she now knew she shouldn't have been.

  She'd also told him that she was attracted to him. It wasn't just his looks, which she admitted she found sexy, but that he had a moral code of his own that he followed carefully. She also admitted a little shyly that the fact that he was dangerous and deadly turned her on quite a bit. Because she knew he would do anything to protect her, because he'd already risked his life saving her.

  He was surprised by that, he thought his being a killer would have scared her off and said as much. Her response had surprised him.

  "But you only kill evil people."

  "How can you be sure?"

  "Because you told me, and you didn't lie," she'd smiled and kissed him.

  It was as simple as that. It made for an interesting change, her knowing if he was lying or not, so he didn't even try. The cat liked that, a lot. Lying was one of those human things that the cat had never been a big fan of. So he just told her the simple unvarnished truth about him, and was constantly surprised by her reactions, which were usually a lot different than he would have expected.

  She told him that when you always knew the truth, it gave you a different attitude about things, about people. You became less judgmental when all the little lies people told to save face, or be polite, became
obvious, because you knew they were lying to themselves more than they were lying to you. When you could see the truth about how society really operated, and learn what people really thought, you had a lot better understanding of what was truly right and wrong. Not the lip service that so many people paid it these days.

  "What are you thinking, Hon?" she asked him, rolling over to face him, tired and half-asleep from the fairly athletic pursuits that they'd been engaging each other in.

  "I want you to be mine," he said and kissed her.

  "I think I've already been yours quite a few times today," she giggled.

  "I mean for life. Mates, mated. I know it may sound sudden, but you're the one. We fit."

  She looked at him, a lot more awake now. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

  Shadow blinked, brought up short for a moment.

  "Yeah, I guess I am."

  "What about the cat? I thought cats didn't settle down?"

  He gave his head a small shake, "There are really only three other women in my life who I care about, and while both I and the cat would miss them because they're the only friends I have ever had, for you we'll give up everything."

  Shirley stared at him. He wasn't lying.

  "This was unexpected," she whispered.

  He nodded, "I know."

  "I'm a bit worried about the part of you that isn't human, how do I know it won't attack me?"

  "Because you're my mate," he simply stated.

  Shirley hesitated, "Still, you're part wild animal, it makes me a little nervous."

  Shadow nodded, the cat would never harm her, but he could still see the idea taking some time to get used to. She knew he was a killer after all.

  "Whatever will make you happy, I'll do."

  Shirley smirked, "That's a pretty wide open statement, Sean."

  "How can I offer you anything less? Why would I offer you anything less?"

  He could see her considering that.

  "Let's clean up, go get some dinner, and talk awhile," she said after a few minutes. "I have to think about this."