Born of Shadow (Shadow Walkers Book 1)

by Richard Murray

  “Great so I’m bloody useless just when I need to be at full strength!”

  “Not useless,” he said as he wiped his blade clean on the grass. “You have a knife, use it.”

  He indicated with a nod of the head that I should follow him as he rounded the corner of the building. I did so, although somewhat shakily. As I turned the corner, Jo and the others were just coming through the gate.

  Blood stained the gravel driveway and deep furrows had been made that showed where the bodies had dragged away to lay at the side of the drive like discarded rubbish. It didn’t feel right, even if they were serving the vampires, they were still human and deserved better than that.

  “You did splendidly,” Marie said to me with a wide grin. “Truly splendid.”

  “Yeah you did,” Jo muttered half-heartedly. It seemed even travelling through god alone knows what that place had been wasn’t enough to impress her. “You all know your tasks, get to it.”

  And with that, she was off. Leading Patrik, Barry and Jonah away. Nazia Shared a look with Daz and something passed between them, some unspoken communication that only they were privy to. I guessed it was a husband and wife thing.

  “Are you going to be okay here?” Nazia asked Marie. The older woman glanced up from the dead guard she had been studying and flashed a bright smile.

  “Absolutely dear. I’m still a tough old bird you know.”

  “I know,” Nazia said with a smile of her own and then another shared look with her husband. “We’d best get going then.”

  “Of course. Abe and I will be fine.”

  “Come on then love,” Daz said. “Can’t let them lot have all the fun.”

  He seemed to almost glow and I guessed he’d grasped his power as a noticeable heat shimmer rose from him. I bit back on the pain and straightened myself up. Determined to be of use and more importantly to be there for Evie.

  “Wait,” Abe said as his hand grabbed my upper arm. I frowned back at him as his eyes flicked once towards Marie and his voice lowered. “Whatever happens in there, we need to talk.”

  “Why?”

  “Just,” his eyes moved towards Marie once more and he faltered as he saw her watching him. “Be careful and if you need to, you can find me at the place I took you that first night. You understand?”

  He seemed to want some kind of response so I nodded and he released his grip. He was certainly acting oddly and I figured it was as much nerves as anything, but still, the way he glanced at Marie set my teeth on edge. With one last look back at him and a nod to Marie, I set off after the others.

  The house was dark as we jogged over the lawn towards it. Well, Nazia and Daz jogged, I did my best to keep up with them but my ass was dragging and the coppery taste of blood was in my mouth.

  Marie hadn’t said that shadow-walking would take so much out of me or that it would hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It honestly felt like someone had tried to scoop out my insides with a dull spoon and left a ragged hole in its place.

  I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and tried to follow along as well as I could. The two of them moved like bloody ninjas with barely a sound made while I seemed to pound the ground with each step.

  Nazia stopped beside the garage and held up her free hand. Daz immediately stopped and dropped into a crouch, head moving from side to side as he scanned the area. I did the same, panting a little from even that brief jog as I craned to see what had caused her to pause.

  A suited man stepped out of a side door that I hadn’t seen was set into the garage wall. He rubbed his hands as though brushing dirt from them and didn’t look our way as he turned towards the house, letting the side door close behind him.

  Moving silently, Nazia was behind him in an instant. One arm went around his neck to cover his mouth and stifle any cries as the great knife she bore slid easily between his ribs. He fell without a sound and Daz was moving immediately to help lift the body.

  As his wife went through the side door into the garage to check for other threats, he went through the dead man’s pockets. He pulled a gun from a shoulder holster as I approached and I gawped at him stupidly.

  “I thought guns were a bad idea,” I whispered and he grinned at me.

  “For us yeah. Nothing stopping these buggers using them.”

  He slid the gun behind his belt and lifted the body over one shoulder as Nazia stuck her head out the door and waved us forward. I followed behind Daz as he carried the body inside where a black Mercedes waited with the boot already open.

  “Dump him in there,” she instructed her husband who grunted an acknowledgment.

  “Holy hells,” Daz said after he dropped the body in the trunk and looked around. “Is that an Aston Martin?”

  The second car that he’d seen in the garage parked beside the first, sat low to the ground and was all sleek curves set in crimson that cost at least a hundred and fifty grand. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy since I would be hard pressed to find enough cash between my couch cushions to afford a coffee.

  “How the heck are these people always so rich?” I asked and Nazia smiled in response.

  “It’s easy to have money when you live forever and lack any morals.”

  “Is it wrong that I want to slash the tyres just to piss them off?” Daz said.

  “Do my love,” Nazia said with a quiet laugh. “But later. First, we need to finish the job.”

  “You mean find Evie,” I said.

  “Sure,” she replied with a confident smile that didn’t mask the way her eyes flicked towards her husband.

  As Nazia headed out the door, her husband following, I couldn’t help but wonder if they had any intention of finding her, let alone rescuing her. If that was the case, I’d need to do it myself.

  The back door was unlocked, which was somewhat worrying until I realised the Jurat Nazia had just killed had likely left it open as he went into the garage, fully expecting to return moments later. I still held my breath as the slipped inside and only released it when no sounds of violence or alarm followed.

  Music was playing somewhere close by. The faint sound of a cello could be heard from somewhere in the house. A hauntingly beautiful sound that seemed out of place in the home of an evil creature like a vampire.

  Somewhat louder was the sounds of a busy kitchen from further along the hall we found ourselves in. There were three doors in the opposite wall and next to the door we’d entered through, a set of stairs that led down.

  Daz stepped out of the first of the doors and shook his head. “Study,” he said as Nazia nodded and silently crossed to the next door.

  I’d no idea what I was supposed to do, but reached behind my back and gripped the handles of my daggers. One in each hand and drew them out with a faint hiss of metal sliding over leather.

  “Downstairs,” Daz whispered as he stepped past me to the stairs. I paused a moment and glanced at the door Nazia had disappeared through and then followed him down.

  Much to my dismay, the basement wasn’t particularly dungeon like. I’d expected cages, chains on the walls and weeping prisoners begging for a saviour. Instead, we found rows of wine racks beneath rows of arc lights.

  “This is good stuff,” my companion said as he pulled free one of the bottles of wine. “Wasted on those damn fangers though.”

  “I thought they just drank blood.”

  “No love,” he said. “As long as they drink blood regular like, their bodies are the same as ours. They can eat, drink… fuck.”

  His salacious wink as he said the last was a little off putting but I put it down to nerves as much as anything.

  “You know what’s bad for wine,” he said as his grin widened.

  “No what?”

  “Heat.”

  The shimmer around his hands grew more visible as he reached out and touched bottles seemingly at random, holding them for a moment as he heated their contents. A short burst of laught
er came from him as he gleefully performed his minor act of vandalism.

  Footsteps on the stairs made me look back the way we had just come in alarm just as Daz grabbed my arm and dragged me in between the wine racks. He pressed one finger to his lips as he stood pushed up against me in the narrow space and the twinkling in his eyes was more than a little disturbing.

  Someone entered the basement, skipping the last step as they whistled a jaunty tune. I tried to see but the bottles of wine prevented that. I did get to hear what sounded like a man talking quietly to himself as he moved along the racks searching for a bottle of wine.

  “Ah, here we have a pretty little number,” the voice said almost right behind me.

  Daz wore a wolfish grin as he slipped out from between the racks and a moment later there came a yelp of surprise that was immediately cut off. I poked my head hesitantly around the corner of the rack.

  A slim man who looked to be barely into his twenties was held in one of Daz’s meaty fists as his other hand was pressed over the man’s mouth. Panic filled the man’s eyes and he struggled against the hands that held him.

  “Must be fairly new,” Daz said and I looked at him, eyebrow raised questioningly.

  “New?”

  “Yeah, a new vamp. Not that strong yet.”

  “They get stronger over time then?”

  “Oh aye love,” Daz said and glanced back to me. His eyebrows waggled as he made a face. “Filthy freaks start out just a little more than human but get stronger, more powerful, the longer they feed on humans.”

  “Should we…” I looked down at the silver blade of my dagger and back to the youngish looking vampire whose eyes widened as he followed my gaze. He didn’t seem particularly evil or monstrous. Just a young guy in a tuxedo.

  “I’ll show you my power shall I,” Daz said with a dismissive look at my blade, or perhaps at me.

  “What do you…?” I trailed off as the shimmer around the hand over the vampire’s mouth grew, the heat making the pale skin of the vamp blister as his struggles increased. Muffled sounds of pain and distress came to me and I had to look away as I swallowed past a suddenly dry mouth.

  In a few short seconds, those muffled sounds grew to be almost loud enough that I feared we’d be heard and I risked a look back. The bottom half of the vampires face was a ruined, blistered mess and pleading filled his eyes as Daz chuckled and increased the temperature.

  I had to throw one hand to my mouth and fight the urge to gag as the sweet smell of burning flesh seemed to fill the air around us. I raised my dagger and took a step forward, only to stop as the other Shadowborn turned to look at me and I saw the imminent violence clear in his eyes.

  “Enough!” Nazia hissed.

  She stood at the bottom of the stairs, her knife held in one hand and gaze fixed firmly on her husband. She didn’t wear a look of disgust or horror, just one of impatience that disturbed me almost as much as what he was doing.

  “Daz,” she said. “Play later. Just finish him.”

  “Whatever you say, my love,” he replied and fire engulfed the vampires head, spreading from the hand pressed over his face. A few more seconds of agonized screams, muffled by Daz’s hand and that now familiar fire swept through the vampire, beneath its skin and a cloud of ash fell amongst the blackened bones where he’d stood moments before.

  “What was that?” I demanded. Anger overruling my need to keep quiet. “You were torturing him.”

  “Just a filthy fanger,” Daz said calmly as he wiped his hand on his shirt. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “They’re vampires,” Nazia said as I looked to her. “Not like they’re human.”

  She indicated for us to follow her with a tilt of her head and she moved stealthily up the stairs. Daz shot me a look as he passed. Madness danced in his eyes and I understood then what they’d meant when they spoke of the chaotic nature of some Shadowborn. That need for violence and misery they… we had.

  For the first time since joining them, I was having doubts. Killing vampires was one thing but torturing them for the fun of it was entirely another. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I followed after them.

  Chapter 23

  Screams were coming from somewhere in the house as we left the basement and, weapons in hand we went towards the kitchen.

  The door swung open and several startled members of staff looked our way, fear plain on their faces at they spied our weapons.

  “Get out!” Daz shouted at one young woman who looked barely older than me. She fled and the others went with her, out the way we had come. He turned back to us and grinned a manic grin before rushing towards the door set into the opposite wall.

  Lightning flashed and ash rained down around us in the foyer. Burnt bones tumbled down the stairs that led to the second floor and Jonah rushed past them without even bothering to look at them as electricity crackled over his fingers and a charge filled the air.

  An elegantly dressed woman in a beautiful gown ran as best she could on tall heels towards us. Her eyes widened and mouth formed an ‘O’ of surprise as she threw her arms in the air and fire spread through her body from the silver headed bolt that had entered the centre of her back. Battle was joined.

  A snarling vampire leapt at me and I fell back, barely avoiding the inch long nails that extended from the ends of his fingers. He swiped at me again as I pushed myself backward across the pale marble floor, knives forgotten in my hands.

  Roaring flame engulfed him and Daz cackled as he watched the fire billowing from his outthrust hand. As the ash fell I caught a glimpse of the large reception room and the fighting that was going on in there.

  Patrik picked up a woman by the scruff of her neck and flung her bodily into the wall. She hit it with a sickening thud and crashed to the floor but rebounded to her feet in an instant and leapt at him.

  Jo traded blows with a dark skinned man in a blood-stained white shirt. He had a long knife in his hand that he wielded like a sword. She used her agility and strength to good effect, dodging and deflecting his blows before striking back with her own.

  As I pushed myself to my feet, I caught sight of the bodies on the floor. Sightless eyes staring at me, faces fixed in grimaces of fear. Either staff or victims, they had died and judging by the bolt sticking out of the chest of one, it wasn’t the vampires that had killed them.

  My friends, if that is what they were, didn’t seem to care about collateral damage and I scanned the faces of the dead, hoping that I wouldn’t see that elfin visage that I knew so well. With a gasp of relief, I couldn’t find her and so headed for the stairs.

  I was done with the fighting. With the slaughter. It wasn’t for me, that indiscriminate killing. I just wanted to get my friend and get the hell out of there. I took the stairs two at a time, breath coming in gasps as I pressed one hand to my stomach. The more energy I used, the more it hurt and I wondered if it would ever stop.

  The top floor was carpeted in cream that was discoloured by several patches of ash and scorch marks that matched those along the walls. I guessed they’d been made by Jonah and I swore softly as I glanced through open doors as I passed.

  More scattered bones and ash and then in one, a girl. Young, maybe nineteen with big round eyes widened in fear. Her clothes were on the floor and she crouched beside the bed, gaze fixed on the bones there.

  “It’s okay,” I said to her quietly as I stepped into the room. I picked up her dress and held it out to her as she flinched away. “They won’t hurt you anymore.”

  “He killed him!” she cried and I glanced at the bed, at the bones there.

  “To save you…”

  “From what! He’d never hurt me.”

  My gaze fell to the marks on her arm, the old and new scars made by teeth and she snatched the dress from my hand.

  “It was my choice,” she said defiantly. “He looked after me and you bastards killed him!”

  “I’m sorry,” I said as I backed aw
ay.

  It was all wrong. She should have been grateful to be saved and not angry. Jonah said the girls had been taken in by force and they’d clearly captured Evie so they were monsters. I kept telling myself that as I moved towards the next room but doubt was beginning to set in.

  Jonah practically flew through the open doorway to my right and crashed into the wall as I approached. He slid down to the carpet, hand gripping the knife that was stuck in his stomach, fingers slick with blood as he tried to pull it free.

  “Help!” he called as he saw me. I reached out to grab him but stopped. She was there, in the room. Evie. And beyond her, Anahella, with blood around her mouth and running down her chin.

  I gripped my knives tightly as I ran into the room, barely seeing the stacked canvases of half-finished paintings, the easels and paints. I just saw my friend, naked and still, lying on the floor.

  “What have you done?” I demanded as Anahella grinned at me. There was blood around Evie’s mouth and from a bite mark on her inner thigh.

  “Given her a gift,” the vampire replied and raised one hand to me as I surged forward. “Ah ha, hold young Shadowborn.”

  “I’ll kill you,” I said and hoped that I’d have the strength to do so.

  “Hold.” Was her simple reply and I stopped as though I’d hit a brick wall. Her eyes met mine and her smile widened as she saw that I was completely within her power. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t move.

  “Why?” I asked as I shifted my gaze to my friend, lying there so pale and still.

  “You ask why?” Anahella said as anger filled her voice. “You dare to ask that after invading my home. Killing my family!”

  “Family?”

  “Yes! My children one and all. I made each and every one of them and they’re dying. I can feel every death! And for what reason?”

  “Because you’re the monsters!” I said.

  “We killed no humans,” she retorted. “We took no more blood than was needed, that was given freely.”

  “But the club…”