The Shadow City (The Demon-Born Trilogy Book 2)

by L. C. Hibbett

  My heart beat with such ferocity that I was afraid it could be heard by the rest of the room. I stared down at my hands with blazing cheeks. Gabriel whirled out of his seat and advanced on William’s thin form. His voice was a hiss. “What are you saying, Master William?”

  Mathas appeared at Gabriel’s side and whispered something in his ear. Gabriel inhaled deeply and returned to his chair. A self-satisfied grin slid across William’s face, but it vanished when Emmanuel’s voice bellowed across the table.

  “William, you have already been warned. You are speaking out of turn and in ignorance. Cease.” Emmanuel’s dark eyebrows were pulled down low, and two deep creases ran between them. He turned to Megan. “Megan and Lucas, would you please locate Jabol for me. Inform him I require his counsel, and if you come across Sam on your travels, could you please encourage him to return to the conference room also. Thank you.”

  Emmanuel watched Megan lead a pale-faced Lucas out of the room before he continued speaking. “Grace, the leader of the London Demons, Niamh, claims to have information regarding what you discovered today which could be valuable to us.”

  “Okay?” I twisted the fabric of my shirt between my fingers and looked directly at Emmanuel, trying not to bow under the weight of the attention focused on me from all angles.

  Emmanuel glanced at Gabriel before answering me. "She won’t share the information unless…” The Master rubbed fist against his tired eyes. “Grace, she wants to meet the Demon-Born children with the lost powers. She won’t tell us anything unless she can meet you, Sam or Dawn.”

  “Absolutely not.” Cain thumped his fist on the table and shot a fiery glance in Gabriel’s direction.   “Those London Demon bastards nearly sent Grace to the Spirit Demons the first time she met them.”

  Gabriel twisted his torso, so that he was facing Cain, and narrowed his eyes. “This beggars belief. The Master of the London cell tells us that hundreds of innocent people have been potentially executed by order of the Angelic High Council, and you are bringing it back to the same argument we’ve had a thousand times. Grace. Was. Not. In. Danger. She would have been protected.”

  “She was barely conscious when she got back to Shadow Hall. She was covered in blood. She reeked of Spirit Demon! If Sam hadn’t pulled her out of there—”

  “Then somebody else would have saved her, Cain.” Gabriel roared the words in Cain’s face and immediately shrank back into his chair as if surprised by his own actions. He flattened his palms against his knees and lowered his voice to its usual controlled tone. “Apologies. This is neither the time nor the place for us to continue this conversation. Regardless of the past actions of the London Demons, we have a decision to make.” Gabriel looked at Victoria. “I am willing to travel to London to represent the Shadow Children in negotiations with the Demons.”

  “Niamh isn’t in London, and she doesn’t want to see you.” The head of every person seated around the conference table swiveled to face the back of the room. I squinted at Mathas in surprise. I had forgotten that the Demon was present. He ran his hand over the front of his immaculate three-piece suit before speaking again. “Niamh and her followers have separated from the London Demons. They’ve established their own headquarters elsewhere.”

  Gabriel blinked at Mathas in surprise and opened his mouth to speak, but Lizzie got her question in first. “How do you know anything about Niamh, Mathas?”

  Lizzie’s body was perfectly still as she stared across the room at her partner. Victoria cleared her throat and curled her fingers in the air. “I’m afraid that’s my doing.”

  Lizzie tilted her chin slightly so that she could have both Victoria and Mathas in her line of vision. Victoria shifted her weight onto the other foot. “I was aware of how strained relations have been between yourselves and the London Demons, so when Mathas arrived today, I asked him to intervene and reach out to Niamh on behalf of the Shadow Children.”

  The irritation blooming in Lizzie’s eyes was a subtle as a hurricane tearing through downtown Tokyo. Victoria let her hand drop back to the table top and glanced in Mathas’s direction. Mathas slid out of the corner and toward Lizzie. “Something is going on here, Lizzie, and we don’t know what it is. We’ve been trying to help, but we are failing. One can’t let pride get in the way of doing the right thing—a very wise woman taught me that.”

  The fury in Lizzie’s expression softened, and she shifted her focus from Mathas to Gabriel. “What do you think, Gabriel, can we trust her?”

   “Have we any other alternative?” Gabriel directed his question at Emmanuel, but it was Mathas who answered.

  “No, Gabriel, old friend—I think not. No alternatives, no options, no second chances.” Mathas twisted his wrist so that he could see the time on his expensive wristwatch. “And, no more time.”

  The immaculately groomed Demon narrowed his gaze on my face, and I crossed my arms. “The response I received from Niamh was crystal clear. She will not provide us with a location to meet, we must find her ourselves, and she will only meet with the person who has managed to locate her, accompanied by Elizabeth.”

  “Then it’s the Seeker she wants. The Seeker and me.” Lizzie screwed her mouth shut and glared at Mathas. “So, Niamh gets everything she demands, on her terms, despite the fact that she still hasn’t explained why Fergus and Lara, Demons on her payroll, were working with Peter? For all we know, she could be in league with Peter and the Spirit Eaters.”

  Mathas raised his eyebrows in Emmanuel’s direction, and Emmanuel unfolded himself from his space at the top of the table. “Lizzie, she holds all the cards. We need to know what’s going on here. If she can tell us something.  If she could even give us a clue—”

  “Emmanuel, is this a joke? We can’t be considering this? How do we know this isn’t a trap? Even if Grace does manage to find the correct place, how do we know that Niamh will let her and Lizzie return? No. I won’t allow it. I’m going to get Cat, there is no way we can go ahead with this plan.” Cain shoved his chair back from the table and stalked across the room.

  “Cain.” I held my arm out to block him. “Don’t. I’m going with Lizzie.”

  Cain widened his eyes and turned his palms up to face the ceiling. “You want to do this, Grace? It’s crazy—it’s a stupid plan. No, it’s not even a plan, it’s a half-arsed idea.”

  “Of course I don’t want to do it, Cain, but we have no choice. If Victoria’s right, if they did move all the prisoners there—if it was the people captured in Moscow...” I pinched the bridge of my nose and tapped Lizzie on the shoulder. “I want to do this outside. I’d rather not have an audience when I Seek. I don’t have that exhibitionist streak most Shadow Children seem to have.”

  Cain grabbed my hand as I moved past and stared into my eyes. I nodded and squeezed his palm before heading for the back door that led outside. The weasel-faced Master started to argue with Victoria about sending a virtual stranger to do Shadow Children work, and Emmanuel rose to his feet in anger, but Victoria was first to speak. “William Vanderbeek, you will discontinue that line of argument immediately. I convened this meeting of Masters, I hold the chair, and I say we owe the girl our gratitude and respect.”

  I paused in the doorway and glanced at Victoria in surprise. Emmanuel sat back into his chair and gave me a gruff nod. His eyes were bright, and I bit my lip in response. Victoria waved a finger at me pointedly. Her words were sharp, but there was a hint of softness around her lips as she shooed me of the door. “Go on, child, we all have work to do.”

  Chapter Seven

  As soon as my feet hit the rocky ground outside the rear door of the conference room, I began to run. I followed the trail that wound around the edge of the property and do
wn the steep slope onto the rugged hillside.

  “Hey! Hold your horses.” Lizzie came barreling down the narrow pathway after me. An avalanche of tiny pebbles tumbled past me as she skidded to a halt. She stamped her hiking boots into the ground. “Are you trying to kill me, girl? Not everyone on this fool’s errand is as young as you are, don’t forget that.”

  I grinned. “Come on, Lizzie, you’re the fittest two-thousand-year-old I know. I hope I’m half as active when I’m your age.”

  “Two thousand and fifty, and I pray you never see that day.” Lizzie’s wistful tone was a stark contrast to her usual brashness.

  My smile faded. “What can you tell me about this Niamh? I know she was Gabriel’s boss for years, I know she’s a Demon, and that’s about it. I guess her power is something to do with prediction? And I know she’s old, Gabriel said that before. She’s really old.”

  “She is. Mega old, as you kids say.” Lizzie pretended to hunch over and mimed leaning on a walking stick.

  I rolled my eyes with a snicker. “Nobody says mega old.”

  “Ah, whatever you kids call it then. She’s ancient, your right. Decrepit. She’s almost five years younger than me.” I bared my teeth in embarrassment, and Lizzie chuckled. She started to make her way further down the slope. I watched Lizzie’s movements carefully and tried to mimic her steady steps. “Move it, Grace. Try and keep up with this aul’ wan.” She winked back over her shoulder at me before continuing. “Niamh is one of the Original Demons, like Mathas and me.”

  I quickened my pace in excitement and grabbed onto a bush as the ground slid beneath my feet. I scrambled after Lizzie. "And like Jonah? The guy who wrote Gabriel’s book?”

  Lizzie veered to one side and stepped off the trail. She climbed onto a large, flat rock and patted the space beside her. “Yes. Exactly like Jonah.” Lizzie pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and untied a leather strap from around her wrist. She handed it to me. “The Original Demons. That’s what the Angels call the Demons who were here when the Veil fell—the Original Demons. There weren’t many of us. Travel between the realms was common for magic users, but around that time, things were strained in this realm there were fewer Demons prepared to visit your world. The darkness was already creeping in.”

  Lizzie ran her fingers through her shock of silver blond hair. “There were only ten of us Demons left, to begin with, after the Great Divide. It was only when we tried to create a portal to return to our own realms that we understood the significance of the Veil for us, and for any Demon who happened to travel into this world after that time. Once the Halfborn race had been eradicated, and the laws of the Veil prevented the rebirth of their race, the Spirit Demons all but vanished, but we Demons were trapped for an eternity, like genies in a bottle. Jonah believed that someone had warned the other Demons to leave. Only Demons like us that were off exploring remote areas far from the beaten track were left behind when the barrier was created. What a time to miss your ride home, eh?”

  I tried to return Lizzie’s crooked smile, but the weight of her pain was overpowering. “Do you ever get news from your own world? From other Demons that arrive?”

  “Occasionally. A few Demons have traveled from our world over the past two millennia, but not many. The people of my realm are cautious—or they were cautious when I last knew them. They wouldn’t continue sending their diplomats into a void.” Lizzie hugged her arms around her body.

  I stared down at the strip of leather in my hand. There were ten stars carved into the cows hide, and six of them had been colored deep red. Lizzie traced her finger over the stars. “Ten. One for each of us originals.”

  “And the red ones?”

  Lizzie’s finger ceased its journey. “Gone. Either through violence or by their own hand.”

  I closed my hand gently around the simple bracelet. “Was this hers? Will it help me seek her?”

  Lizzie nodded, and I closed my eyes and focused on the energy coming from the leather band. I tried to imagine a woman’s fingers carving the shape of the stars and later filling them with crimson. Blood red. Blood. Her blood.

  My hand flew open. I jumped off the rock and tried to steady myself on the steep ground. My lips compressed as I tried to concentrate on splitting the fabric of time and space to open a slip. I prayed for an ounce of Jasmine’s skill.

  Grunting in satisfaction, I tore open the air in front of me. A rush of cold, salty air hit my face, and a shiver of familiarity brushed against the corners of my mind. Lizzie squeezed my shoulder and started to climb through the slip. “Well done, girl.”

  I grabbed her arm. “We should probably wait a second before lumbering headfirst into their lair, they won’t know it’s us, they might think they’re under attack.”

  Lizzie shook me off and stepped through the slip and out onto the wet sand on the other side. She held out her hand to pull me through, and I reluctantly pinched the slip close behind us. Lizzie looked around us with narrowed eyes. “Trust me, Grace. If we were able to slip into this place, then Niamh knows we are coming.”

  I grimaced in acknowledgment of her statement and stretched my arms as I looked around at the deserted shoreline surrounding us. My trainers sank into the muddy sand, and the memory of grueling runs flashed behind my eyelids. I kept Lizzie in my sight as I tugged the Spirit Blade from my belt. “What kind of a Demon is she? She sees things, so she’s a seer like you?”

  “Yes, she’s a seer, but not like me. Niamh has a special gift.” I listened to Lizzie’s answer as I edged along the cliff wall with a rising sense of panic. I grabbed Lizzie by the wrist and swung my head wildly to examine the rugged coastline. The familiar shape of Dorninish rose out of the waves like a beloved pet sea serpent.

  “Lizzie, I got something wrong. I messed it up. We aren’t in London, we’re not even in England.” Lizzie raised her eyebrows, and I licked my dry lips, savoring the salty taste of the ocean spray. “I must have been thinking about, Eve. I made a balls of it, sorry.”

  We rounded the bend in the shoreline, and I found myself staring at the mossy stone staircase that led to Hidden Cottage. It hadn’t changed in the past year. It probably hadn’t changed in the fifty years before that. I swiped the back of my hand against my nose. “Sorry, Lizzie. If you give me the bracelet, I can try again.”

  Lizzie dug her fingers into my wrist. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead at the base of the stone steps. “I told you, Niamh’s gift is different. I see what is. She sees what might be.”

  I followed the laser beam of her glare, and my stomach contracted as I realized we were being watched. On the bottom step stood a girl so slender and pale that she was almost camouflaged by the granite at her back. She didn’t move as Lizzie strode forward, heaving me along behind her. As we got closer, the girl slowly came into focus, and I ground my feet into the sand. Lizzie released her hold on me and watched as I stared from her to the stranger, waiting for the cogs in my brain to turn.

  “Are you Niamh?” I tugged my hair off my face so that I could examine the slim figure more clearly. She nodded. I stared at Lizzie and shook my head. Lizzie shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips. The girl on the steps smoothed the stray strands of silver blond hair back into its neat ponytail. Her eyes were as pale and as deep as the arctic snow, with only the slightest hint of blue. Ethereal eyes. Lizzie’s eyes. I crossed my arms and turned to face Lizzie head on. “Anything else you want to tell me about Niamh?”

  “Still pretending you are not my sister then, Elizabeth? I thought that perhaps you might tire of the façade after a few decades, but you always were as stubborn as a mule.” Niamh’s voice had exactly the same quality as Lizzie’s, but while Lizzie’s had a distinct Irish brogue, Niamh’s was refined and f
aintly British. Lizzie glared at her sister but didn’t answer. I had an overwhelming desire to see the two women side-by-side so that I could appreciate the full impact of their contrast. Their coloring and features were almost identical, but Lizzie’s icy complexion was warmed by the boundless earthy energy that radiated from every inch of her body, a sharp contrast to the glacial stillness that surrounded her sister.

  Niamh turned abruptly, apparently unwilling to wait any longer for Lizzie’s response. She floated up the stone staircase without looking behind her and disappeared out of sight once she reached the top. I held my hands out wide. “What the hell is going on here? Does she want us to follow her? What does she want?”

  Pursing her lips, Lizzie began to jog up the stairs in the direction Niamh had headed. Her voice was a surly mutter. “If you ever figure out what that girl wants, be sure to let me know.”

  By the time we reached the top of the stairs, Niamh had crossed the road and was heading toward the gate to Hidden Cottage. I bolted across the laneway and cut in front of her petite form. “What are you doing? We can slip to your headquarters from out here. The cottage is private property.”

  Niamh stared at me levelly and then walked around to me and through the open gates onto the driveway. Lizzie shot me a sympathetic smile as she passed me by. I cursed under my breath and shoved my hands into my pockets before stalking after them. I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself for the heartache that came every time I was faced with something that reminded me of the life before this one. The life with Eve in it.