The reality was, once he'd secured the Shadow and taken care of Gabe, he needed to do some recruiting. Between Gabe and the Shadow, they'd managed to reduce his numbers. If he possessed a captive Shadow as a food source, he'd be able to recruit his choice of demons. Blake's nest would be the most powerful in the growing army. No more hiding in the mountains. He would be a leader. Blake smiled in anticipation. He wasn't worried about capturing the Shadow. Gabe was gone and Blake hadn't arrived empty-handed. He'd brought a gift for the Shadow, something that would ensure her compliance. A few minutes more and she would be his.
Chapter Eleven
Celeste thought she'd learned patience in the decades of her exile. Apparently not. Time dragged as she waited for Gabe to return. He was a fast runner, faster it seemed since they'd bonded. His truck was almost three miles away up the mountain road, over to the west. The terrain was passable, but steep. He might be able to take some shortcuts on his way up, but once he was in the truck he'd have to follow the road at a reasonable speed or risk running off the side of the mountain. At least fifteen minutes to get to the truck. The same to get back. Thirty minutes total. If he pushed himself and the truck to the limit. Celeste had a feeling Gabe wasn't going to hold back. So, thirty minutes. She glanced at her watch. Three minutes since he'd left. Twenty-seven to go. Too long. So far, there was no movement outside. She wished she had a surveillance system. Maybe, if she got her electrical power under control, they could install one. If she learned to handle electricity, they could get all sorts of neat toys. She could get an e-reader. A computer. A phone. She'd be free to leave the mountain.
She'd be free to leave the mountain.
For so many years Celeste had been resigned to living in isolation. The possibility of leaving hit her like a thunderbolt. If she could learn to control her power over electricity, it wouldn't just be a weapon, it would be her freedom. She'd have a normal life again. Or what passed for a normal life for a Shadow in love with a Warder assassin.
The idea of escaping her seclusion was so overwhelming, she almost didn't hear it. A soft, shuffling sound in the grass outside the open window. A stab of grief for Fitz hit her. He'd have been on the scent long before her ears caught anything amiss. She allowed herself a quick sigh before she edged over to the window and peered through. With the heavy outer shutter closed, Celeste's view was limited. Slivers of grass showed through the gap at the bottom. Two feet. Impossible to tell if they were Blake's. She checked the second window. Another set of feet. So at least two intruders. Maybe more.
"Shadow," a voice called out. Celeste recognized it from the night before. Blake. They'd been right. He'd let Gabe leave and gone for her. "We need to talk."
Celeste didn't answer. There was nothing to say. If she ignored him, she'd drag their encounter out longer. A quick glance at the clock told her she had twenty-three minutes until the earliest time she could expect Gabe back. Twenty-three minutes was a long time.
"Shadow. I know you're in there. I brought you a gift."
A quick peek out the third window showed her nothing. Opening the shutters defeated the purpose of hiding in the tower, but she'd really like to know what was going on out there. Searching for patience, Celeste sat on the edge of her freshly made bed and waited. It seemed Blake had less patience than she did.
Celeste jolted as the front door rattled in its hinges. Silence. Then the muffled crash of shattered glass followed by the bang of shutters. That was going to be a mess. And a hassle to have the window replaced. She tried to focus on the annoyance of a broken window instead of the demons trying to tear her home apart. They couldn't break in.
The stockbroker who built the tower years ago had been something of an oddball. He'd intended it as a romantic gift for his wife, but he must have had fears of the zombie apocalypse because he'd designed it to withstand a siege. As a woman living alone, Shadow or not, that had been one of the reasons Celeste bought the tower house. All the doors, interior and exterior, could be barred shut from the inside. The windows were equipped with shutters, inside and out, also fitted for bars. The exterior of the tower was stone, the roof shingled in slate. Short of a rocket launcher, it would be extremely difficult to invade the tower. Celeste reminded herself of this as she listened to the Vorati demons testing the building's defenses. All she had to do was wait for Gabe. Part of her hated being passive, but she wasn't going to be foolish. She wasn't a soldier. If she wanted to be smart, she’d stay put and hold on for Gabriel.
Her plan was moving along swimmingly until she heard the scream. High pitched and desperate, the sound could only belong to a child. It hung in the air around the tower, beckoning. If it had been an adult, Celeste would have ignored it as a trap. The Vorati never infected children. They were too small, too powerless. Their bodies too fragile to hold the infecting demon for long. Not worth the trouble. On top of that, it was rare for a child to have the level of moral decay necessary for Voratus infection. Which made it unlikely that the scream came from an infected body. They had a child out there. Celeste's stomach rolled with nausea.
"Shadow! I brought you a gift. Don't you want to see it?" Another scream, this one followed by a sob.
No, she thought. I really don't want to see it. Her mind insisting she stay put on the bed, Celeste walked to the window closest to the screaming. She unfastened the shutter and swung it open a few inches. Her heart sank. There went the plan. On the walkway leading to the front door stood Blake. He held a female child in a chokehold, smothering her scream. Anna. He had Anna.
Celeste spent most of her time alone. Unable to go shopping for supplies, she'd developed relationships with a few of her neighbors over the years. The culture in the mountains was insular. The locals must have thought it odd that she didn't seem to age, but none of them said a thing. Certainly they thought her healing skills beyond human capacity, but they said nothing of that either. In return for acting as their doctor when they needed her, they kept her in fresh milk, eggs, cheese, meat and produce she didn't grow herself. For decades it had been a satisfactory arrangement. Celeste didn't know any of them well, didn't call them close friends, but they were cordial. She'd saved their lives from illnesses, stray ax blades and difficult births. Nine years ago, she'd delivered Anna. Thirty hours after Anna's mother went into labor, Anna's father came for Celeste. They hadn't known what was wrong, just that mother and child were in trouble. It had been a battle, but Celeste managed to save them both. She'd never forgotten Anna's first, faint cry. Weak and thready, it had warbled out of the wrinkled infant, reassuring them she'd survived her birth. Completely unlike the full-throated scream that echoed in Celeste's ears.
"I'm sorry, Gabriel," Celeste whispered. She was going out there. She had to get Anna away from the Vorati. She could have withstood almost anything in her wait for Gabe, but she would not let them torture a child she'd brought into the world. Celeste looked at her watch again. Fifteen minutes left. Far too long. Throwing open the shutter so that Blake could see her, she prepared to negotiate.
"I'll trade myself for the girl," she said. Blake grinned up at her.
"I thought she would get you to show yourself. Come out here and we'll talk about the girl."
"No. I can hole up in here for weeks, demon. Plenty of time for reinforcements to arrive. That child won't feed you for a day. If you want me to come out, you'll trade me for the girl."
Blake appeared to consider. "Fine. Come out front."
"No. Tell your Vorati to move where I can see them. In front of the door, thirty feet back. I don't want any surprises." Celeste might be about to screw the plan, but at least she didn't have to be entirely stupid about it. Every second she ran down the clock was a second that swung the odds in her favor. Three demons joined Blake and Anna in front of the tower.
"We're all here," Blake called out. "You can come out now."
Celeste checked the other windows, opening the shutters wide for a better view. She wasn't afraid they'd take a shot at her. They wanted her alive an
d unharmed. At least until they got their hands on her. Almost out of sight, she spotted a Voratus lurking on the rear side of the tower.
"All of them, demon. Not most of them. Everyone around the front or I don't come out." Celeste stepped away from the windows and closed her eyes, concentrating on reading the energy in the air around the tower. The discordant grate of Voratus energy was now confined to the front of the tower. The bulk of it was drifting farther away. Closer, she felt Anna's smooth, warm, human energy and one energy signature that was Voratus and yet not. Blake. Was his odd energy signature the result of infecting a Warder, or something else? In a few minutes, she'd be close enough to figure it out on her own. Returning to the front window, she took in the enemy position scattered across her front lawn.
"Tell them to back up," she said.
Blake gave a jerk of his head. The four demons moved to the edge of the grass. Blake remained in his position ten feet from the front door.
"Leave the girl there and back up with them."
"No. You come out and I'll let her go," he said, wrenching his arm around Anna's neck. She cried out.
Celeste searched for a way to get to Anna without giving herself up. Nothing came to mind. One last glance at her watch. Twelve minutes left. She re-secured her bedroom windows, unbarred the door to her bedroom and descended to the first level.
A small barred window was built into the front door, not much bigger than her face. Celeste opened it to see that Blake had moved within five feet of the door. Too close.
"Back up," she said. "Or I don't come out."
Blake moved back a few more feet. She'd have to do this carefully. Celeste unbarred the door, slipping the heavy iron bar an inch from the bracket. It needed to be easy to re-secure in case little Anna made it to the tower. Opening the door just wide enough to slip through, Celeste stepped out of the tower. The crackle of Voratus energy pressed against her, prickly and unpleasant.
"Let her go now," she said.
"Come closer," Blake demanded.
"No,” she said, standing just outside the open door, close enough that she could be back inside with the door safely bolted in a few seconds. “I’ll tell you how we’re going to do this. You’re going to let Anna go and stand ten feet away, over there." Celeste pointed to her left. “Every time I take a step closer to you, Anna will take one toward the door. One step at a time. Until she’s inside and I’m alone with you.”
Celeste met Anna’s eyes and saw the girl’s comprehension.
"Let go of the girl and move to your right,” she said. Blake stared at her for a minute, either judging her distance from the open door or her intentions. Maybe both. Then, too slowly for Celeste, he moved a few feet away from Anna.
“One,” Celeste called out, taking an exaggerated step toward Blake. Anna took a step of her own, mirroring Celeste’s long stride as best she could with her shorter legs. “Two.”
They took another step. After the third, Celeste was even with the pale faced little girl, almost close enough to reach out and touch. "Get in the tower," she said, keeping her tone low. "Bar the door. Don't come out for anyone but me or a man called Gabriel. Me or Gabriel.”
By her guess, Celeste thought Gabriel would get to the tower within ten minutes. Maybe less. She called out the next step, this one putting her between Blake and Anna. Two more steps and he’d be able to grab her. Celeste wasn’t sure how to avoid that conclusion. For now, the most important thing was getting Anna to safety. Celeste had value to these demons, sick and demented though it was. Anna was disposable.
Another step and Blake was no more than a yard away. Anna’s restraint broke at the sight of the door within arm’s reach. Her little feet slapped against the walkway for three quick steps, then the barely open door slammed behind her. Blake lunged at Celeste, wrapping strong fingers around her wrist. He reeled her in, dragging her closer, a toothy grin spread across his face. Forcing back the discordant hum of his demonic energy, Celeste reached behind her with her free hand. During Blake’s last visit she’d been almost defenseless, unprepared to be attacked in her own home. Not this time. This time, she’d been expecting him. Dipping her fingers into the back pocket of her jeans, she withdrew a calix, the tip already exposed. Celeste whirled into Blake, using his tension on her arm to knock him off balance. He took a stumbling step to the side and she stabbed the calix into his chest.
It missed his heart. A fatal strike would have been too much to hope for. But the loss of balance and step to the side loosened Blake’s hold on her arm. Without a breath of hesitation, Celeste yanked free and ran for the woods.
***
Gabe wasn't sure what was worse, the strenuous race up the side of the mountain, or the torturously slow descent in the truck. He’d bypassed the road and headed straight for the truck, at times climbing up the rocky ground hand over hand, pushing his body as far as he dared. In contrast, the crawling pace forced on the truck by the curving road ratcheted his tension higher with each second that slipped away.
Gabe checked the dashboard clock. He'd been gone twenty minutes. From Celeste, he felt an increase in anxiety, but that was probably nerves. There was no reason to think everything wasn't going to plan. Except a growing certainty that something had gone wrong.
The truck roared down the straight path of Celeste's drive, spitting gravel from the tires. The tower stood alone in the grassy lawn, as peaceful as the first time he'd seen it. Dread spread through him. Blake had been watching the tower. There was no way he hadn't gone for Celeste. He didn't have the patience to wait. There should have been Vorati attacking the tower. At the very least they should have been nearby. Forcing his mind to quiet, Gabe's dread multiplied. He felt no instinctive pull to Vorati. No prickle of heat on his skin. Wherever the Vorati were, they weren't within five hundred feet of the tower. Neither was Celeste.
Gabe pounded on the front door. His bond to Celeste told him she wasn't tucked safely behind the heavy barred door, but he'd be a fool not to check. Alarm streaked through him when an unfamiliar, trembling voice asked, "Who is it?"
"Gabriel. Where is Celeste? Who are you?"
"Are you alone?" the voice squeaked.
"Yes," he said, trying to keep the impatience from his voice. It sounded like there was a child on the other side of the door. He needed to know what happened to Celeste, not to scare the child into hiding. The bar on the inside began to move, sliding through the brackets in awkward hitches. It was heavy. Gabe wondered how small the child was. The bar fell to the ground with a dull clang. The door swung inward a few scant inches. A pale face appeared, a little girl, her pupils dilated with fear.
"Are you Celeste's Gabriel?"
"Yes. Who are you?" he asked, crouching down to her level.
"Anna. I'm from over there." She gestured to the woods left of the tower. A child of a local family then. One Celeste knew. Gabe's fear increased. Celeste never would have left the tower. She was too smart to be drawn out. Except for a child. Especially a child she knew.
"Can you tell me where Celeste is?" Gabe asked.
"She saved me from the scary men. They took me from my house. Hurt my Mommy. Celeste made them let me go and she ran away."
"Which way did she run?"
"That way." The girl pointed behind herself, indicating the woods on the other side of the tower.
"How long ago?" He got a blank look in answer. Son of a bitch. His connection to Celeste was too new. Gabe had no idea if he could use it to track her. Didn't understand exactly how it worked. But if they were far enough ahead of him, they'd disappear into the mountain. Gabe knew he'd find her. The question was, how long would it take? And what condition would she be in when he got to her?
Chapter Twelve
Celeste ran as if hell itself chased her. Which in a way, it did. A week ago, death would have been preferable to capture. Now, she knew Gabe would find her. No matter where the demons took her, Gabe would find her. She just had to stay alive. Celeste was in good shape. She knew the land
around her tower better than any other place on earth. She'd hiked it every day for decades. Twice a week, except in the depths of winter, she ran the mountain road where Gabe had parked his truck. Her pursuers might be demons, but Celeste had trained for this. If she could just get out of their sight for a few seconds, she might have a chance.
Behind her, feet pounded the earth, scrambling over fallen logs and unstable rocks. She gained a few more feet of lead. The woods were hers. She knew the height of every log, knew which rocks could take her weight and which would fall. Drawing from the energy in the earth, Celeste pushed for a burst of speed. There was a spot, a hiding place that might buy more time. Gabe was coming. She just had to hold out a little longer.
A fleeting wish for stronger Tk hit her. Another Shadow might have been able to pull down a tree behind her. Throw rocks as she ran. It was all Celeste could do to enhance her speed. Even if she had the strength to pull down a tree, she'd have to stop to do it. Her healing power and her nascent abilities with electricity had never felt so useless.
Just over the next rise, her potential hiding place waited. She drew harder on the energy around her, barely noticing the air temperature drop as she used everything, even the warmth of the sun. Her feet flew over the rough ground, propelling her faster toward the dip in the mountain. Shouts echoed behind her. Diving, she threw her body over the dead leaves, trying to hide her back trail as she rolled into a tight ball beneath a low rock overhang.
Shadow's Passion: The Shadow Warder Series: Prequel Novella Page 11