Shadow Maker: Morrighan House Witches Book One

by Amir Lane

  “Let me sleep now. Stand outside or something.”

  Dieter didn’t know if they listened or not. But they became quiet, and that was good enough.

  BEADS OF sweat rolled down Dieter’s spine. His feet hit the pavement in a quick, even rhythm. Shadows rushed around him, but Dieter was only focused on closing the distance between himself and the marker where Sandra was standing. His calves ached, and his heart strained against his ribs. Sweat blurred his vision and burned his eyes.

  The second he passed Sandra, his legs gave out. His knees buckled, but he managed to keep himself from falling. He rested his hands on his knees while he caught his breath.

  “You’re slowing down,” Sandra said. “I think you’re done for today.”

  “How slow?”

  “You’re at 12.5 seconds.”

  Dieter winced. His top speed was 10.9 seconds. Yeah, he hadn’t run in a few days. It accounted for the lost speed, but that didn’t make it easier to swallow. He picked his water bottle up off the pavement and took the stopwatch from Sandra, drinking while she walked to the starting point. She made the hundred meters in 13.4. It was faster than her other runs.

  “Wicked,” she said, bouncing with a grin. “I would give you a hug right now, but I’m all sweaty and gross.”

  “So am I. And it’s not like that’s ever stopped you before.”

  She snorted, giving him a light shove.

  Dieter laughed, trailing off when his eyes caught Steven sitting on one of the bleachers. The Shadow behind him was contorted in a familiar way.

  “Abigail?” he said.

  Sandra frowned, looking around.

  “Who’s Abigail?” she asked.

  “No-one. I—I have to go.”

  “All right,” Sandra said. “I’m gonna’ hit the showers. I’ve got class in a bit. Same time tomorrow?”

  “Yeah,” Dieter said absently, his eyes on Abigail.

  He could see Sandra walking toward the Athletic Centre from the corners of his eyes. Water bottle in hand, he stalked across the grass to the bleachers. The shrill wail that Abigail let out before vanishing almost brought him to his knees.

  “Hey, Dr Volson,” he said, smiling despite the weight in his stomach.

  They weren’t supposed to see each other in public. Surely Steven wasn’t here to see him. Not after their last meeting.

  “Dieter, hi. Nice day, isn’t it? I had some time to kill, thought I’d sit out here for a while.”

  Dieter nodded. Steven’s smile was warmer than it should have been. He pretended that there was nothing in it. They were just being friendly. It was what people did. Still, he couldn’t quite make himself match it. There was a tight edge to it that he was sure Steven would see.

  “Yeah, I like to come by when I have spare time,” he said, looking back at the field over his shoulder.

  “You have great form.”

  Dieter’s face felt hot, and he hoped that he wasn’t actually blushing. The praise automatically filled his stomach. He hated himself for it. It wasn’t real. It was Steven’s powers again. It had to be. But he wasn’t going to fall for it again. He knew better this time.

  “I’ve been practising.”

  “I can tell.”

  The smile held humour and maybe something apologetic. It was something Dieter recognized but chose to ignore. If he let himself notice it too much, he wasn’t sure he could control his reaction. He was better than that. He wasn’t going to get sucked into this game again, no matter how much he wanted to.

  No matter how easy it would be.

  “Will I be seeing you… in class today?” Steven asked.

  Dieter frowned. He didn’t have any class with Steven today. But the meaning clicked and Dieter shook his head.

  “No. I have somewhere to be today.”

  The disappointment in Steven’s face didn’t make Dieter’s knees tremble the way it used to. Still, he was tempted to call Yasir and Selima and cancel. He wanted to make that look go away. But cancelling wasn’t an option. Not when he couldn’t trust his emotions around Steven anymore. Not when Yasir and Selima could give him an alternative to controlling the Shadows that didn’t involve blood magic.

  “Will I see you tomorrow, then?” Steven asked, drawing Dieter from his thoughts.

  “We’ll see.” Wait, he was supposed to say no. “I need to take a shower now.”

  Steven’s eyes flickered over Dieter’s body, but he didn’t say anything. Dieter pretended he couldn’t see those eyes watching him as he turned and followed the path that Sandra had taken to the Athletic Centre.

  The shower should have relaxed him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was on the other side of the shower curtain. It wasn’t his Shadows. They were all pressed into the tiny stall with him, pushing him into a corner. He had to pull the shower head to stay under the spray. But there was something else that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

  Dieter shut the water off and took a few deep breaths. There were only three possibilities of who or what could be on the other side. It was either a person, a Shadow, or nothing. He gathered his courage and pulled the curtain back.

  “What do you want?” he snapped.

  Abigail hissed, clawing at his face. Dieter managed to keep from stepping back. His Shadows moved between them, cutting her off.

  “What do you want?” he asked again, even harsher this time. “If Alistair wants to check in, he can call.”

  Dieter paused as he caught movement from the corner of his eyes. He watched the man pass by before turning his attention back to Abigail. But by the time he looked back, she was gone. He walked out of the shower with a frustrated sigh, drying off as he moved toward the lockers. His Shadows fussed around him. As many times as he tried to smooth his hair down, their claws pushed it back up. He was getting too used to the constant just-got-out-of-bed look that the Shadows were insistent on giving him. But Yasir liked it, so he didn’t mind.

  The moment he stepped onto the empty bus, Dieter pulled his phone out and dialled Alistair’s number. He paced his breathing to the ringing to settle his nerves.

  “Hey, baby,” Alistair’s voice said into his ear.

  “Hey. So I saw Abigail today. Have you… been checking up on me again?” Dieter asked.

  He tried to keep his voice light, curious.

  “Not on you. On that professor. I don’t like you with him,” Alistair said for the ten millionth time.

  “I know you don’t. But I can take care of myself.”

  And if he couldn’t, he had four Shadows who could do it for him.

  “Of course you can. I’m not saying you can’t. But I know how you are with him. You let him use you. You don’t think straight around him.”

  Dieter couldn’t argue it, though. As much as he pretended to be the one in control, he knew he wasn’t. He never was, not even with the Shadows. Steven made him melt. It wasn’t the same as being with Alistair, or Yasir and Selima. But he couldn’t stop it any more than he could stop what he had with any of them.

  “I appreciate you looking out for me, you know I do. But you don’t have to.”

  There was a pause on the other end. It sounded like Alistair was eating.

  “Sure, I don’t have to,” he said. “I do it because I love you, and I want to protect you.”

  The words made Dieter’s chest tighten. He loved those words, no matter who they came from. He wanted to hear them again and again and again. And even though he didn’t particularly want to hear them from Alistair, and even though he didn’t want to say it back, he still loved the words.

  “I know you do. But stop stalking him. It’s creepy,” Dieter said.

  “I’m the creepy one? He’s married, and he’s sleeping with one of his students. Who, in case you forgot, is half his age!”

  “I didn’t say you’re creepy. And I didn’t say he wasn’t.”

  “Which is why I’m keeping an eye on him.”

  Dieter glanced out the win
dow to check the stop. He still had time before his stop came up.

  “You’re sweet, Alistair. Or maybe you just want to watch,” he teased.

  Alistair choked on whatever he was eating. Dieter tried not to laugh. It wasn’t fair but, well, he deserved it. Dieter plugged his ear and turned the volume up on his phone to hear Alistair over the growing crowd.

  “No. God, no. I don’t have to tell you how fucked up this thing you have with him is. I know you have Lenna and your sister for that.” There was a pause. “Unless you didn’t tell them.”

  “I don’t usually discuss my sex life with my sister. It’s not really any of her business.”

  “I’m not going to tell you who you can and can’t sleep with. But I wish you’d just stay with me. I’d take proper care of you. I wouldn’t just play with you. But I know how you are. And I’m okay with it. If you want to fuck everyone who looks at you twice, fine. I get it. But don’t blame me for checking in.”

  Dieter’s eyes stung, and he blinked away tears. He wasn’t crying, especially not on a goddamn city bus full of people. There should have been a hundred pounds of judgement in Alistair’s voice, but there wasn’t. Just concern and affection. Dieter got more of it now than he knew what to do with, but it didn’t stop him from leaning forward and covering his face with his free hand.

  “I won’t blame you,” he said, his voice tight. “I think I’m seeing him tomorrow. I’ll call you after, I promise. That way you don’t have to send one of your Shadows after me. They kill the mood. How’s that?”

  “That sounds fine.”

  Dieter curled his finger around the yellow cord above his head and tugged on it. The bell dinged.

  “Hey, I have to go,” he said.

  “Promise you’ll call?”

  “I promise. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Dieter hung up as the bus slowed to a stop. He slung his bag over his shoulder and got off mechanically. His legs were sore from the running, so he could only move so fast down the street to the big house at the corner. He was so used to the small house he shared with Lindy and Lenna that it always caught him off guard how big Yasir and Selima’s house was.

  He found Yasir in the back yard, drawing something on the patio in bright pink chalk.

  “Hey, habibi. You ready to start again?” Yasir asked with a smile.

  Dieter grimaced.

  “No.”

  Yasir laughed and straightened up before pulling him into a kiss. He’d made it more than clear that he didn’t care who saw. He was an affectionate man. Dieter would never complain about that.

  “Yes you are. We practise some more, and then we go get something to eat. Yes?”

  “Yeah, fine. Can you just explain how to do this again?”

  “All you want to do is burn away the chalk. Don’t put energy into it like you do with Western magic. You want to leave the imprint of the symbol.”

  Dieter nodded slowly. He had no idea how he was supposed to do that. It sounded exactly like what he’d already been doing. But apparently, there was some subtle difference that he wasn’t getting. Maybe it made more sense in Arabic.

  “Can you show me again?” he asked.

  Yasir crouched down and touched his fingers to the chalk circle. It was as if the symbol was made of sparklers ignited by the dark blue lights that ran down his veins. When the sparks died down, the chalk was replaced by black ash. Yasir blew it away. Though no visible trace of the chalk was left, Dieter could still feel the residue.

  “So that’s all I have to do. Just burn it away.”

  “Pretty much. Think of it, though, like lighting with a match instead of a lighter.”

  Right. Quick and temporary. Or something. Dieter could do that.

  Yasir drew another circle. The design inside looked like a series of three S-shapes with a line drawn through them.

  The Shadows rushed around them, bouncing off the many spots where Yasir had made chalk circles with angry cries. One snuck up on Dieter, dragging its claws across his face. He stumbled back with a shout. Yasir’s arm caught him before he fell.

  “They keep—They always do that,” Dieter mumbled.

  Yasir kissed his cheek, just shy of the raised lines. He reached back and unclasped his necklace. The pendant was an open palm with a blue eye embedded in the palm. He reached behind Dieter’s neck to close the clasp.

  “This is khamsa, and nazar. It keeps away evil. Maybe it won’t keep Shadows away, but it will maybe stop them hurting you.”

  Dieter pressed a kiss to Yasir’s mouth. He could feel the smile against his lips.

  “I can do this,” he said.

  He knelt next to the circle. He’d tried this at least a hundred times yesterday and he’d gotten nowhere. With his body already aching from all the running, he didn’t expect today to be any different. But the fake optimism helped.

  “Just burn it away,” he reminded himself. “No big.”

  “No big,” Yasir said with a smile.

  Dieter put his hand on the patio. The bricks rattled.

  ‘Just burn it, just burn it…’

  He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the lines. He drew the image in his mind, imagining them as sparklers on a cake. Heat flared through his fingers.

  “That’s… not exactly it,” Yasir said.

  Dieter cracked his eyes open and jumped back. The chalk was definitely burning.

  “Do you need the fire extinguisher?” Selima called from the patio.

  Dieter pretended not to see her smile.

  “I got it.”

  Yasir waved his hand, and the flames were smothered. The Shadows passed through the circle with ease.

  “At least there was actual burning this time,” Dieter said dryly.

  “Don’t feel too bad,” Selima said. “We spent a lifetime learning this. You just started. It will come with time.”

  How many times had he heard that one before? Dieter looked over at the Shadows and scratched at a scar through his sleeve. He wasn’t sure that time was something he had.

  DIETER’S FINGERS curled around the pendant hanging from his neck. The golden chain had become a near-permanent fixture on him. Dieter had seen his fair share of useless knick-knacks but so far, the Shadows hadn’t given him any more cuts. As far as he was concerned, it seemed to work.

  The Shadows moved around him, blocking him from view. It was a neat trick that actually came in handy.

  The closer he got to Steven’s office, the more uneasy he began to feel. It wasn’t the usual uneasiness that came with the worry of being caught, it wasn’t the anxiety of finally confronting him about manipulating his emotions. This was something else entirely. Something in the air was just wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it, though, even as the Shadows became more agitated. His hand hovered on the doorknob. A bead of sweat travelled down his spine.

  A part of him wanted to turn and run, but Dieter figured that was just part of his personality at this point. Wasn’t that what he was doing? Running from his father—or at least ignoring his rare calls—and running from Alistair. It was only a matter of time before he started running from Steven, too.

  Which, in hindsight was probably something he should have done from day one. It wasn’t even really hindsight if Dieter was honest with himself. The list of things that made this wrong just kept growing and growing. He didn’t need Alistair’s lecturing to know that. What he would get from Lindy if she ever found out would be a thousand times worse. Keeping it from her should have been reason enough to call it off. The fact that he was married should have been reason enough to call it off. It should have never even started. But Dieter had always been weak for anyone who would praise him. Men, women, he’d never cared. And Steven was always so full of praise for him.

  Still, something made him hesitate. There was something on the other side of the door, something that his Shadows didn’t want him to see. They tugged at his clothes, wailing and crying. But since when did he listen to them? He pushed them
off, blue sparks firing from his fingertips. They screamed and pulled away from him. Another scream followed. This one came from the other side of the door.

  Dieter wasn’t sure if the scream was human or not, but he threw the door open and stepped into the office anyway. In the time it took for his brain to process what his eyes were seeing, the door clicked shut behind him. His body reacted of its own accord and he grabbed at the doorknob. He could feel it turning, but it wouldn’t give. It wasn’t locked. It didn’t make sense for it to be locked, he’d just opened it. No, it was more like someone was holding it closed on the other side. But the door had no window, so he couldn’t see who it was.

  Turning back around, his first thought was that Brigitte Volson was probably the only woman he’d ever seen who came close to Lenna’s height. The thought only lasted a second before his brain caught up to the situation.

  “Holy Jesus…”

  Brigitte pulled the letter opener from Steven’s neck. Behind her, Abaddon snickered. Steven didn’t move, didn’t make a sound. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, his mouth hanging open.

  Dieter grabbed for the doorknob again. It still wouldn’t budge.

  Another shriek, the same one he’d heard before, resounded through the room. It was human and not human at the same time. A cold shiver down Dieter’s spine and his stomach dropped down through the floor. On top of being tall, Brigitte was fast, faster than any normal person should have been, maybe even faster than Dieter. But maybe Abaddon, perched on the windowsill, had something to do with that.

  With the door being held shut, Dieter’s only way out was through the window. The drop from the fourth story would break his legs at best, but he was more likely to survive that than a knife to the neck like Steven. But Brigitte was between him and the window. He might have had an easier chance with the door.

  Dieter held his arm up to protect his face as Brigitte brought the letter opener down. The blade cut through his skin. His nerves burned. It was enough to unfreeze his body. He bolted for the window. A hand grabbed his hair. Sharp nails dug into his scalp. He reached back to pry her hand off of him, but her grip was solid.