Shadows of Fate (Shadow Born)

by Angela Dennis

  Gray glanced at him sharply. “Ignore your jealously and think for a minute. We can’t just walk up to Claudius. He’s the representative of the Vampire Assembly in these parts. If you approach him in anger, his minions won’t ask questions. They’ll kill you.”

  “You know him?” Sam walked faster. The masses Gray had thrown money at earlier had noticed them. “I hear he’s a real bastard.”

  Gray smirked. “He can be difficult, but he’s not a liar. If he has Marissa, he won’t hide it.” As they left the tunnels, he turned to Sam. “He wouldn’t have fed from Marissa. She didn’t betray you.”

  Sam looked unconvinced.

  “Claudius only feeds from his own kind. Aside from Shadow Bearers, he believes everyone else’s blood is impure.”

  “Thanks.” Sam slid into the passenger side of the vehicle. “Are you going to set up a meeting with him tonight?”

  “It’s not that easy. I need Brenna. He has a weakness for beautiful women, especially if they’re powerful.”

  “Just make sure Brenna doesn’t kill him. She might go off half-cocked.”

  “I’ll control her.”

  Sam’s snorted “Good luck. She won’t be herself until her body recharges.” Guilt tinged Sam’s words.

  “Hey, you can’t blame yourself for needing to feed. It’s not your fault. The key is to recognize you have an issue and learn how to cope with it.”

  Sam looked away. “It pisses me off that I have to feed off my friends to survive. Most people aren’t leeches.”

  “No. We all are. Incubus, vampire, witch or human, we all use someone else to survive. Even Shadow Bearers. No one was built to survive on their own.”

  Sam considered that for a moment. “I guess. I never thought about it that way.”

  Gray hoped he took the words to heart. It had taken Gray too long to learn the truth behind them.

  When they returned home, Brenna sat waiting in the parlor. Although he could not hear her conversation with Mira and Hilda, she was clearly frustrated by it. He managed to peak through her glamour. Her skin was bluish and pale.

  Gray entered the study. Sam followed behind him, hands shoved in his pockets.

  “Did you find Marissa?” Brenna asked.

  Gray shook his head. “Just information.”

  Mira hissed. “She looked like crap yesterday. Her arms were bruised and her aura was way off. Has something happened to her?” She glanced down at the wine glass in her hand, watching the blood swirl against the crystal. “She smelled like Claudius.”

  Gray straddled one of the wooden chairs beside Brenna. “How well do you know Claudius?”

  “We go way back.” Mira sat her glass on the side table. “He raised me. My maker got staked the day after I woke up.” The authoritative way she held herself was a reminder of the successful lawyer she had once been. “I interfered with Claudius’ smuggling ring. He sent one of his minions to teach me a lesson.”

  Gray leaned forward. “He made you a vampire?”

  She nodded, running her finger around the rim of the glass. “I killed the bastard the next day and Claudius had to clean up the mess. He taught me to kill to survive. Until recently, I didn’t realize there was an alternative.” She paused, grinning at Brenna. “I’ve been rehabilitated.”

  “From being a vampire or a lawyer?”

  “There’s a difference?” She ran a slender finger across her lips.

  Gray chuckled. “My contact in the Underground confirmed she’s been seen with him. I’m going to set up a meeting. I’d like you to track him once Brenna and I leave his house.”

  Mira rubbed her hands together. “With pleasure. If he hurt Marissa, I’ll kill him myself.”

  “No you won’t. We need him for information.” Brenna narrowed her eyes. “Don’t growl at me, Mira. He could be connected to the serial killer.”

  Mira leaned back in her chair, the wine glass back in her hand. “If I’m going to be at my best, I’ll need more than just synthetic blood.” Her grin widened. “Can I ask Sam to donate?”

  Sam shook his head. “I’m still weak. I might end up draining you at the same time.”

  Brenna frowned. “This is ridiculous.”

  She got up and headed to the kitchen. “Stay there,” she ordered.

  Brenna sighed as the door swung shut behind her. Tensions were mounting without Marissa to sort out everyone’s needs. She headed to the back pantry and stepped inside, locking herself in. Slipping a key from her pocket, she knelt before the bottom shelf and pulled out a chilled lock box. She opened it and glanced down at what was left of her reserves.

  Not much. The increase in demon attacks had taken their toll on them. Things would get dire soon.

  She pulled one bottle out and popped open the cork. Pleasure surged through her at the smell of pure Shadow Bearer blood. It would make Mira far more powerful, and they needed her strong.

  Grabbing her antique Hello Kitty mug, she poured the precious liquid until it was three quarters full. Replacing the cap, she locked the box and went back to the study.

  Mira gave her a bemused look as Brenna handed her the cup. Brenna could tell Gray had caught the scent. Gray closed his eyes, bliss on his features. It made her wonder how long it had been since he had fed.

  “Brenna.” Mira stared at the blood, eyes wide. “Are you sure?”

  Gray’s eyes held the same question.

  “Yes. I need you strong. If Marissa has been taken, it might be one of us next.” She crumpled into her chair, still a bit weak from helping Sam. “But savor it, there isn’t much left.”

  Gray raised a hand, halting Mira before she could drink. “If you haven’t had our blood before, you should prepare yourself. The buzz will last for days. Your abilities will redefine and strengthen for years. It will shift your body into a different type of being. More like us.”

  “So it’s like strong coffee?” Sam joked, but there was tension in his body. “Could it hurt her?”

  Brenna shook her head. “It may sting, but only as your powers redevelop. Think of it as steroids with only good side effects.”

  Mira closed her eyes as the powerful blood slid down her throat. When they reopened, they were glazed over. “I’ve never had anything so…” She paused. “I can’t think of a word.” Instead she took another sip, her head rolling back against the chair.

  Gray coughed, momentarily covering Mira’s groans of ecstasy. “I need you both back here in six hours. We’re going on a field trip.”

  Mira tilted her head back, draining the rest of the cup, for a moment it looked like she might lick the inside. Jumping to her feet, she gave Gray a quick salute. “Yes, sir. I’m on it, sir.” Dancing across the floor, she smacked Sam on the butt, sending him out ahead of her.

  Brenna sank back into her chair. “That probably wasn’t my best idea.”

  “You may be surprised. She will be loyal to you forever.” Gray offered his hand.

  She sighed, accepting it. “A loyal nightmare. At least she’s well fed.”

  Brenna let him pull her up. Their bodies brushed as she regained her footing. Heat radiated from his skin. She fought the urge to press closer as a flutter of desire stirred deep in her belly again.

  “How long has it been since you charged your blood?” he asked.

  It was a question she didn’t want to answer. “There are other things to worry about. I’m fine.” She tried to pull away, but he held fast.

  “You know better. If you continue to draw power, you’ll need to refuel with fresh blood to stay strong.”

  She pulled away from him, her body screaming at the loss of contact. “And how am I supposed to do that? You are the first Shadow Bearer I have seen since I was banished. I have taken precautions. I have a supply of stored blood.”

  “Which you said you’re running low on. It’s not enough.”

  Heat rose in her cheeks. “I said I was fine.”

  “You’re not fine. And there is no reason for you to go without blood no
w. A small exchange would not bond us.”

  She could practically taste him on her lips. The temptation was almost too much. But she needed too much blood to safely drink from him. An extensive blood exchange would create a bond between them for a time. She didn’t trust him enough to make herself that vulnerable.

  He moved closer, the strength of his body backing her against the wall. “You need blood.” She could feel the heat of him, the roughness of his hands against her arms, the prickle of his stubble against her forehead. She tried to hide her reaction, pushing past her warring feelings of desire and alarm.

  But he was right.

  She hated he could see through her bravado, through the glamour she had thrown around her weakness. She would have to feed soon or it would start affecting her performance. They didn’t have the luxury of time to recharge naturally.

  She heard Gray call her athame to his hand with a word. Her breathing slowed as he pulled the blade across his wrist, allowing the blood to well against the silver.

  She tried to pull free, but he held fast.

  The sweet essence of his power drifted toward her. The urge was so strong. She should push him away, resist, but she couldn’t.

  She pulled his wrist to her lips. His blood was like quicksilver and her body burned with relief as it slid down her throat. Time lost all meaning. Wrapped in their combined power, she could only feel. A growl wrenched from her throat when he pulled his wrist away. Wanting more, a fragile grasp on her control, she watched him heal the skin without any scarring.

  Her body awash with new sensations, she couldn’t focus. He had not given her enough to allow her to overcome his glamour, just enough to allow her own blood to recharge. In theory it had been what she needed. In practice, he had gone against her wishes and she was furious. An exchange was addictive. One would never be enough. She would be forced to live with the memory and the temptation. She was just thankful no one had walked in on them.

  Gray wrapped his hand around her forearm, pulling her against his body. “My turn.” The heat of his breath caressed her face as he leaned closer.

  Temptation stood six-four, with long black hair and violet eyes, wielding a silver blade in his hand. Sharing blood was more intimate than sharing her body. If she gave in, it was only a matter of time before he broke down the barriers she had spent a century erecting. But she wanted him, and that desire had already left her vulnerable. The realization jerked her back to reality. She pulled free of his grasp.

  Skirting backwards, she hit the door frame. “I can’t,” she said, searching for an excuse. “I… need to rest for our meeting with Claudius.”

  Not sure she could resist any longer if she stayed, she fled.

  Several hours later, Gray snuck out the back and into the gardens. Dead trees swayed in the crisp winter night. The wind whipped their broken branches in a macabre dance. The temperature had taken a bitter turn. Snow coated the broken concrete steps that led out of the garden.

  He could not get Brenna out of his head. Under all that glamor he had seen her as she was: flawless skin, sunken eyes, blood straining in her veins. She had needed to recharge. At least, that had been his excuse. There was no altruism involved. He wanted her. Swamped with desire from the moment they met, he had needed release and had jumped at the chance.

  It was madness.

  The consequences could be dire if she were to taste him again. It might allow her to see past his glamour. His power, his very being, had been rebuilt through the powers he shared with his brothers. Even if she were to recognize some part of him, the majority would be unfamiliar. Still, it wasn’t worth the risk.

  He watched his hot breath sit in the air. His task here had become too convoluted. He had found Brenna, but he was further from his goal now than when he had begun. He would help Brenna find this Kenaz killer and help Seraph with the Veil if need be, then he would take her with him. Back to face her fate.

  He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing as he drew upon his power. It cloaked him, flowing through him until his physical form wavered in the twilight. With a push, he disappeared from the garden, reforming miles from the boarding house. Snow twirled around him as he moved through the knee-high drifts to the wooded area at the edge of the field. He stopped before the giant white aspen at the edge of the grove.

  The tree was an anomaly. It towered above the others, three times wider than those around it. It had thrived around the magic Gray had placed inside.

  Striking the heel of his hand against the bark, Gray whispered an incantation. The bark split open, revealing a hollow cavity. He slipped his hands inside and withdrew a wooden box. The cold seeped beneath his leather duster, cooling his simmering blood.

  He took from the box a rose colored cylinder. Uncapping it, he drank its contents. The potion absorbed into his blood, granting him some relief. For a moment he dropped his glamour. He stared at his pale scarred forearms, thankful there was no mirror handy. What would Brenna think of him now? A broken form of the man he had been.

  She might take him under her wing as she would a deformed puppy abandoned by its mother. Or maybe she would kill him, despite her claims of innocence. Who knew what the truth was? With a long suffering sigh, he wrapped his glamour around his body even stronger. Tears burned in his eyes.

  But now was not the time to suffer self-pity.

  His body was still weak. The potion could only sustain him so long. His head fell back against the tree as he cursed the fates. He had to cure his failing body once and for all. But only one thing could heal him.

  Brenna’s blood.

  Chapter Six

  It was still snowing the next night when Gray turned the Taskforce vehicle onto the winding drive that led to Claudius’ estate. Brenna sat silent in the passenger seat, strangely subdued. Whether it was from fury or frustration remained to be seen.

  Claudius had been less than accommodating when Gray had contacted him early in the evening. When it was clear he would not extend an invitation, Gray had been forced to strong-arm him, threatening an official visit from the IRT. The vampire would not be welcoming, much less forthcoming. Brenna’s presence would help, however. Enough that he would play nice at the very least. However, knowing Brenna’s tendency to use power over persuasion, it was anyone’s guess how the two would get on. No doubt they’d locked horns at some point in the past.

  The wind pounded the vehicle, making it difficult to follow the curve of the road. Branches broke from the trees overhead, pelting the vehicle. Claudius’s rage had to be affecting the weather. Either that or they were traveling on the outskirts of a tornado.

  “Did you have to make him mad?” Brenna glanced over from the passenger’s seat. “He’s hard enough to work with when he’s in a good mood.”

  Gray shrugged, turning to avoid a fallen tree trunk. “He’s just trying to scare us off.”

  “It’ll take more than a little wind,” she said.

  The estate was deep in the crater of what had once been one of Colorado’s largest mountains. Four stories of rock and cement, the estate was hidden deep within the forest that had reclaimed this land after the Fall. Gray stopped the vehicle in front of the iron gates at the end of the private drive. Rolling down the window, he gestured to one of the guards.

  The vampire moved forward. His dark suit shining in the moonlight. He straightened as he recognized Gray, then gestured to the two guards standing against the side of the gate.

  “Master said he’ll come to you.” The vamp’s voice shook a little. At least he had the sense to be afraid, unlike his boss.

  Gray held out his hand. “Give me your radio.”

  The guard hesitated.

  “Give me your radio. I’ll talk to Claudius myself,” he repeated. When the guard didn’t move, Gray curled his fingers and pulled the receiver from his belt. It jumped into Gray’s hand.

  “Open the gate,” he said into the receiver.

  The radio crackled. “Not until I know you aren’t a danger to my pe
ople.”

  “We can easily become one if you don’t cooperate. You know why we’re here.”

  For a moment the hiss of static fought with the hiss of the wintery wind.

  “Do not assume you can threaten me in my home.”

  There was a faint click as Claudius ended their communication.

  Gray ignored the alarm on the guard’s face, probably afraid he’d have to fight them. Moments later, the iron gates opened. Gray ignored Brenna’s incredulous look and tossed the guard his radio back.

  “So what’s next? A pissing contest?” She sank back in the seat. “I’m surprised he hasn’t thrown a whole tree at us.” Glancing out the side window at the mile of driveway they had yet to travel, she shrugged. “There’s still time.”

  “I know how to handle Claudius,” said Gray.

  A tree branch bigger than Brenna slammed into Gray’s side of the vehicle, pushing them off the road. Gray fought his way back onto the path.

  “Obviously.”

  She didn’t speak again until he pulled into the circular driveway before the house. It was an incredible eye sore. A strange mix between a monastery and a casino, it screamed opulence and excess of a sort only the rich back east could afford, while the rest of the state worried about things like water and power. Gray cringed at the garish blood red carpet that spilled from the entry-way like an open wound. Claudius took pride in what he was, celebrating his vampirism to excess.

  Refusing to meet their eyes, shoulders slumped, the butler led them down the narrow corridor to the study. Gray stopped in the doorway, motioning Brenna ahead even as he chased away the sentry.

  Claudius sat in front of a roaring fire on a cream colored Victorian chaise. He didn’t move as Gray stepped inside the room, locking the door behind him with a wave of his hand.

  “Is it too much to ask that you not terrify my servants?” Claudius’ smooth voice wrapped around them.

  Gray shrugged. “Cooperate and it won’t be necessary.”

  Rising to his feet, Claudius tossed something in the fire. The flames whipped to a frenzy then settled. He turned, causing his black smoking jacket to flare around him. His eyes fixed on Brenna, a slow smile curled his lips.