Into The Shadows (The Shadows Trilogy Book 1)

by Claremarie

  "I found out this information through hacking in the dark part of the internet no one knows about, it took careful hacking not to set off any alarms, to go in and out without no one the wiser. I couldn't find photographs for any of them, but I did find an address 164 Redland North Avenue Los Angeles used by Clark Taylor recently not sure if he's still there but it's most certainly worth checking out." Joe concludes, everyone is watching him in awe as he uses his hologram to swipe, zoom in and out and flicking his hand to add new things on the hologram after tapping his device which controls it and of course the fact he found this groundbreaking data.

  Before paranormals were brought to light to the public, we had our way of dealing with situations and finding things out, like pack law you break it your alpha or who the crime was committed against gets the kill. Every species had their laws and handled situations differently and used their powers and gifts to get the information they wanted but with humans it's different. You can't just kill them because they broke the law there's prison and justice in place for that. The Pack killed Richard because he was different, he was raised by paranormals so he’s considered one and a betrayer. Humans don't have powers or our abilities to sense each other and use against one another. With paranormals through long distances, they are impossible to seek, and paranormals once all lived in groups. We never had a reason to find each other or track down enemies so that skill was never learned or passed down through generations for them or humans. And searching them out in the technology world it's a talent we don't yet possess, but that I plan on changing.

  Why now are my family fighting back against The Government and not before? I guess things are different when one of your own is being threatened, and Clark Taylor has been slipping up recently according to Joe. Almost like he’s so comfortable no one is going to go up against him or dare try that he’s let down his guard, and security isn't as tight finally allowing us an in. I also think it's because our family has grown into two families adding more numbers, strength and powers neither had on their own, but I think taking jobs near the government was fighting back. They were getting ready for this day and I’m proud of them.

  America doesn't have a president anymore like we did in 2048 and earlier. When our last president John Paul King was assassinated on twenty-seventh November 2048. It happened with a gunshot to the head at a public speech for gun violence in Ohio. The world went into an uproar and not too long after that, paranormals were discovered allowing Clark Taylor an easy in with the distraction of the assassination to take over the White House and in 2050 our world was once again thrown for a loop when it split into four species, Nine hundred and Fifty years ago. The board never do public appearances or live speeches just release electronic statements through our ED's and HES.

  "Now that we have the names of the board we can start our full investigation, learn how to take them down and replace them with a new board of people who care about our nation," Gabriel says, sounding happy we've finally made headway. Murmuring my agreement and I'm yawning again even though it's only around 7 pm.

  "I think it's time we all leave and let Ava here get some rest," my Dad tells the room, and everyone stands to get ready to go, we hug each other goodnight with promises to meet tomorrow night again for updates. Joe waves goodbye. He is also leaving with everyone else. I'm heading upstairs to my bedroom with Kyran and Axel behind me when I ask, "So who's on ‘watch Ava’ duty tomorrow?"

  Entering our room, I strip off my work clothes feeling so free in my pink pajamas shorts with a matching pink vest.

  "You know I feel more relaxed knowing someone is hanging around helping to keep you safe, and it's Avery smarty-pants" he snorts in amusement, I untie my hair shaking it out. Pulling back the covers I get into bed.

  "You don't have to join me now just because I'm going to sleep," I say to Kyran, causing him to tell me he knows this but wants to and with the offer of a back massage I can't resist.

  Having to lay on my side all the time now it's so uncomfortable to lay on my belly, and his hand begins rubbing my neck then lower to my shoulder blades and I groan softly from how good it feels. After a few minutes of rubbing my back, Kyran slowly gets lower taking care to massage all my aches his hand slips around to my baby bump and caresses there lovingly essentially holding our baby.

  He kisses my neck, and I moan as his hand goes down into my shorts sliding two fingers into me going slow I'm quite swollen down there, but it makes it feel better in an odd way. Lowering his boxers and taking down my shorts he lifts one leg up into the air guiding himself into me rubbing my belly while he makes love to me softly, sweetly and kissing my shoulder, my neck and behind my ear.

  I hold a fistful of my pillow in my right hand from pleasure and feeling his chest vibrate from the low rumbling of his excitement when we begin to climax as he whispers into my ear, "I love you, Ava," I'm moaning as I whisper back, “love you too,” and feeling his seed enter me I shatter my release around the thick rigid length of him.

  It was a slow gentle loving and just what I needed, I'm about to get up to clean myself, but he carefully pushes me back then goes into the bathroom coming back with a warm wet cloth. Kyran washes me between my legs then pulls my shorts back up kissing my forehead telling me to rest as he gets in next to me placing his arm around my waist and stomach protecting us. I fall into a deep sleep until the alarm goes off in the morning.

  Chapter Fifteen:

  The Government

  * * *

  The next day at work in Blue Starr it's been a long day, and I'm ready to go home, my baby girl has been kicking all day and as nice as it is to feel her it can be a little inconvenient when you need to pee every so often. Collecting my sweater from my locker and feeling Axel move around on my back it seems like he is running up and down it. My ED goes off with a text from Avery telling me she's running a little late and to start going home without her I find this very odd she's almost more protective of her baby niece as Kyran is and me, but I still leave. Closing the bar door behind me and standing outside Blue Starr on Apple Avenue unsure if I should walk home alone but thinking just staying here is probably more unsafe I start waddling towards Woodlands Creek to cross into Central Park then out onto Wellstone Avenue to then cross the street to my condo building. But I never get that far.

  I have barely taken a few steps when I feel a rush of the wind and an unfamiliar hand covers my mouth injecting a serum-like substance into my neck. I could feel Axel about to shift off me, but the serum knocks him out just as it does me. I wake up to find myself in a dark, and cold brick-walled room inside a cage, hands and feet bound by special handcuffs used on paranormals with duct tape over my mouth. It smells damp and of sewage and a room full of men dressed in black combat gear pointing guns at me.

  I begin to shake in absolute terror, and I was brave the first time I'd been taken, but I wasn't heavily pregnant or even knew I was expecting then, so it's different now, and PHS were a new threat I didn't know what they were capable of but The Government I know all too well. Now I acknowledge my nightmare was a warning many months in advance, it wasn't just my overactive mind, it was a warning.

  Some soldiers move aside and in walks five people, in the lead is the man I assume is Clark Taylor and his daughter Haley Taylor, Thomas Grant, Nichols Gates and last Julia Healy. Clark must have been around his sixties before he got the immortality serum. He is short around 5'4 with a beer gut brown hair with gray in it. It looks like a bad hair dye job. Clark's face is long shaped with evil green eyes, and I hate that, the only pair of green eyes I want to be looking into is Kyran's.

  Haley Taylor must have been around eighteen when she took the immortality serum cause that's how old she looks and is similar to her father but with a short brown pixie cut hair with green eyes that aren't as cold but you can tell she's seen some bad things. She’s thinly built and around 5'7 and dressed in a light gray pantsuit holding an ED Mini, a hand held version of ED like a computer and tapping on it paying no attention to the
kidnapped pregnant chick. The other female must be Julia Healy she has auburn long curly hair left down to her mid back with a diamond shaped face and hazel eyes. Julia must be about thirty or at least in her thirties and is short, probably about 5'4 with a fragile frame wearing a black pantsuit.

  The two men Thomas Grant and Nicholas Gates I don't know who is which but both are in black suits with dark glasses on and black hair like they both have dyed it going in for it with the whole black theme they have going on. One of them is in his fifties, six feet, and all muscle, the other around forties and with a hugely muscled build. They are all in suits looking like a new version of men in black with two women sidekicks.

  He smiles at me coldly, and I want to put my arms around my belly but I can't, I'm bound. I feel Axel move around on my back as if reminding me I'm not alone, but it scares me more cause if I lost him who is like as a son and best friend it'll hurt so deep, I send this thought to him pleading to him not to make a move. They obviously don't know about him, and it's a card we have to play but only if he stays hidden looking like a tattoo.

  "Ava James Oh I'm sorry I meant Ava Lewis" I flashback to my first dream of a scene eerily familiar to this one which makes me remember the torture. Trying not to shake in fear from the memory I think of my baby she needs me healthy so taking a few deep breaths I pretend he’s not affecting me.

  "I’ve heard some rumors about you, like how you are unique and have been for quite some time now but I thought it was smoke until I saw that recording of you seemingly knowing a man was about to jump in front of a bus. I thought to myself…" He says as he walks around my cage in circles I try to keep away from the bars staying in the center.

  "…maybe she's an MH, like me who got lucky when inheriting a power but checking your records you're listed as a human which undoubtedly made me curious so I did some research about you finding out you've met let's say a group of people. They confirmed my new suspicion you aren't human you're a dog and look you are pregnant, two bitches for the price of one". He says laughing cruelly and my body tenses terrified.

  I begin to pick up some of Kyran's thoughts, the serum must be wearing off, and if I can hear his then he can hear mine, and I'm conflicting if I should let him see what's happening we have no secrets but does he need to see this? And that's when I hear a growl in my head.

  "Yes I do need to see this you can't be alone we’re looking for you I promise, Avery is begging me to tell you she received a text from Aaliyah saying she was taking over watching you that's why Avery wasn't there she's so sorry." I hear the pain from his voice, this is killing him, and I know he wants to know how our baby is but asking will be his undoing right now.

  "I got a text from her saying she was running late and to begin walking home without her. I thought it was strange but I still left, so it's my fault, not hers, tell her to stop beating herself."

  There's a bang against the cage Clark slapping his hand down on it getting my attention, and Kyran's voice goes quiet in my head listening and observing.

  "Not only are you attractive to my studies but you broke the law you didn't register, and I can't accept that so extra delight will be taken when I'm, let's call it studying you, shall we?" Clark says laughing.

  I start to hear other voices in my head from the people in this room, some looking forward to what they think is just like a show, others are sickened by it but afraid for their own families. But the light in all this shadow is a female who is either Julia or Haley planning on helping me in whatever way she can. A male voice follows her thought too there might be some hope if Kyran can't find me after all, at least for my baby.

  One of his soldiers open the door on my cage, and another one grabs my arm dragging me to an examination table roughly throwing me on it I turn my body to land on my back protecting my daughter then my hands are cuffed to the metal railings on the table. I don't struggle or fight I have two other people to think of; Axel and my baby. The door to the room opens so well concealed you couldn't tell it was an entry point until it was opened. A man wearing a doctor's coat walks in. Eli has a grandpa look to him. He’s around seventies I think, but when I meet his eyes, the frost coming from them fills my heart with dread I just know he takes pleasure in doing this. Eli is short at 5'3 and chubby with geeky glasses and flat gray hair.

  "Ah Eli perfect timing you can take everything you need from her including the usual I'll be back soon," Clark says before beginning to leave the room but is stopped by what happens next." When the doctor Eli comes close he’s thrown back by an invisible force that I'm pretty sure came from me but I didn't feel anything, and usually a surge of power would rush through me when using an active power like teleportation.

  "Mama" I can hear in my head, and I'm so startled my body attempts to jump but it can't I'm held down by the cuffs. This most magical experience is torn apart by where we are I don't even have to soak in, my pup was able to communicate with me from the womb. The room had gone still after Eli was thrown and after getting back up he and Clark move closer but are thrown back yet again, and that's the moment it hits me it's my child who is doing this she's protecting herself and me. She must have the power of shielding, the ability to shield yourself including others from unwanted attack or exposure using an invisible force throwing people backward if they come into contact with the shield.

  "And Axel mommy, I was protecting him too," She tells me.

  Joy, unlike anything I’ve ever felt rushes through me but is short lived when both Eli and Clark pick themselves up with a vengeance and hatred in their eyes. Clark nods to someone I can't see, and a needle is jabbed into my neck. The serum gives me paralysis unable to move but I can hear and see everything they do to me no doubt that was planned. Eli ties a rubber string around my upper right arm putting in a needle taking tubes of blood while humming a tune. After he’s finished taking five test tubes, he untied the rubber band then ripped out a strand of my hair and picked up a scalpel taking a piece of my skin just above my elbow, I scream in pain on the inside but unable to make a sound. Eli gives me another injection that reverses the effects allowing me to move again handing me a plastic cup.

  "I want a pee sample you'll be escorted and watched while you provide one then you'll be put back in your cage dog," Eli says to me then I'm pulled by another faceless soldier into another door to a bathroom all made of metal with a toilet, sink, and shower. I just stand there looking around the room hating to use the bathroom in front of anyone, but I don't have a choice I need to stay clean and healthy, so I go.

  "Pee now, lady" he barks at me, and I jump. Still, in my work uniform, I pull down my pants uncap the pot and pee into it trying to pretend there isn't someone watching me. Finished I pull up pants cap the pot then immediately I'm dragged back to my cage the door clanging shut.

  Kyran tells me I’ve been gone for weeks, and our family is doing everything they can to find me. When the serums I'm given daily wear off I get to hear him comfort me, but Axel is always here in my head talking to me and maybe because he's attached to me the serum doesn't work. When no one is in the room, he comes off my body, and we cuddle. I save half of the bits of food and water I'm given to feed him we've both lost weight. I'd be afraid my baby wasn't fine if she didn't kick all the time reassuring me and when she's able, will call me mommy it helps eases the nerves. Kyran and I never got around to choosing a name for her believing we'll know when we met her now I'm scared we will never know. I can tell Axel wants to get us out of here, but it could risk all three of us, and he knows right now I need him to be a secret, a beacon of light in the shadows.

  The interrogations are a new routine demanding to know everything about paranormals, my pack and what powers I have. They tie me to a brown wooden chair beating me when I don't answer, I never answer. I learned that while pregnant they won't harm my stomach because they want my baby when she's born. So I get punched all over my body aside from my belly, slapped in the face, grabbed roughly on my arms, pushed, water boarded and I even got kicked
in the face once, my blood splattered all over the walls and floor, my face swelled almost unrecognizable. Luckily when the serum wore off, I automatically healed myself which is a power I couldn't hide.

  That's how my weeks have been, and today I'm kicked off the chair for not answering questions on my abilities by a soldier I’ve come to call CB. It stands for Clark's Bitch. He’s a big guy with a body builder frame at six feet with a short buzz haircut and probably the most evil blue eyes I’ve seen, wearing a black combat uniform with weapons and guns attached. There's no way I can fight them, especially when I'm bound and they’re trained even better than Kyran is, I had only started basic training then had to stop when my bump got too big. I looked for many hours for an escape, but I'm kept in an iron clad cage in a brick-walled room, I can't use my powers long enough to teleport outside the cage, because inside is magic warded allowing no abilities to work.

  The mind link I have with Kyran is a bond, not a power giving me his voice when I need it most maybe every other day he gets through I'm not sure anymore. Time here began not to exist, but every time, Kyran says he loves me to keep strong that they are getting closer to finding me. Kyran tells me the most important thing of all that I'm the new face of the shadow movement my kidnapping was caught on a drone. The footage was leaked to ED's and HES everywhere all over the world no one knows who leaked it. I guess our nation can ignore a lot, but the capture of a young heavily pregnant girl in the middle of the streets by The Government to be tortured then killed is the last straw and are fighting back causing riots.

  Two members of the board, a male and female with masks on sneak me more food and make sure I'm not in too much pain until I can heal myself by slipping in pain killers to me on my food tray. Each take turns to help me but when I asked for their aid to escape both said this was all they felt safe risking, both are terrified of Clark and well I can't blame them for that. A few of the other soldiers take gentle care when handling me but making it look like they are hurting me, I play along grateful and when no one else is around and on watch duty standing outside my cage, they will sometimes even talk to me.