Silently, Celeste scooted further back, wedging herself into the tiny cave created by thick rock and damp earth. She'd discovered this nook by accident a few years before during a sudden spring downpour. Not quite large enough to make a good den for an animal, the cave had been enough to shelter her from the rain. If the Vorati hadn't seen her hide, Celeste might have bought a few more minutes.
Holding her breath, Celeste listened. Rustling leaves. Several sets of feet nearby. Close, but not on top of her. Muttering. Damp cold seeped into the fabric covering her legs and butt. A sticky warmth on her cheek told her she'd scraped it on the rock or the ground in her dive for safety. It would heal. Everything but death would heal.
Placing her hands flat on the chilly dirt, Celeste sent her senses deep into the earth, gently drawing energy to the surface. Power flowed into her palms, spreading through her body, replenishing what her determined flight had used up. Under normal circumstances, her energy would have built back up on its own in a few hours. She rarely took from the earth like this. Who knew what underground life she might disturb by altering the energy flows? But desperate times and all that. When Gabe found her, she'd use the energy to boost his powers. She hoped. And if he didn't find her before the Vorati did, she'd need every bit of power she could get.
***
Gabe tracked them for two miles. Celeste had managed to run to the woods, that much was clear. The signs of their passage showed five Vorati in pursuit. Their tracks fanned out when they entered the trees, creating a net a hundred yards wide. Helpful for Gabe. The demons weren't out of sight of one another, not entirely. But in these dense woods, with the elevation changes, it was difficult to see someone twenty feet away.
Part of Gabe, the part connected to Celeste, pulled him straight to her. Had he wondered if he could find her? The moment he'd allowed his focus to shift to their bond, Gabe homed in on her position like a magnet. He had to fight to keep his attention on his prey. Their bond let him feel her anxiety. Anxiety, not fear. Wherever Celeste was, she was hanging in there. The best plan was to take out as many of the demons as possible. Five against two wasn't terrible odds. But they could be better.
The closest Vorati had slowed. It was searching. Not pursuing. Celeste was hiding from them. He heard a shout. Something about, “Find her.” Definitely hiding. Good girl. Gabe suspected she knew this mountain inside and out. If she could stay safe, he'd see what he could do about thinning their enemy's numbers.
Gabe crept up behind the Vorati he'd been following. Distracted, it peered through the thick undergrowth for a sign of Celeste. Gabe pulled a calix from his pocket, thumbing off the protective tip. The demon never heard him. Gabe wrapped an arm around its neck, choking off its startled scream. One thrust and he buried the calix in its chest. Gabe dropped the body. In its human life it had been a middle-aged man, tall and spindly, with a scraggly graying beard. Empty of the infecting demon, the body resembled nothing more than a waxy shell, its human soul long devoured. The thick cushion of winter’s dead leaves drifted up to hide the remains from sight. When this was done, and Celeste was safe, he'd come back and clean up. For now, one down, four to go.
***
Blake scoured the mountainside for any sign of the Shadow. The bitch had been fast. She'd run from him like a wild animal, taking flight the second the human child had been safe. Blake had expected her to run. Just not at such a dizzying speed. His Warder's body was powerful. And fast. Maybe he didn't train the way he used to. He'd always hated running. It was boring. Since he'd been infected with the Voratus, he hadn't needed to. The demon's spirit was a shot of adrenaline to his already strong body. No way a little Shadow female could outrun him. Yet she had. One moment he’d had his hands on her and the next she was yards away, flying to the cover of the woods.
If Blake lost her—it didn't bear thinking about. He'd pinned his plans for the future on capturing the Shadow. Even been unwise enough to mention her to his Master. If he lost her now it would go badly. Blake loved to give pain, lived to feed on it. He wasn't so interested in experiencing pain himself. If he knew anything about his Master, it was that the demon had perfected the art of torture. And he was inventive. Terrifyingly inventive.
Circling around, Blake checked the line of his demons. Two were in sight, one on either side of him. They were searching the underbrush for signs of the Shadow. Their home was miles away, on the other side of the mountain. But what remained of the men they'd been still knew more about hunting in these mountains than Blake ever would. The demons would find the Shadow. He caught sight of a third head bobbing among a cluster of trees and vines. The fourth was missing. Blake waited for it to shift into view. Nothing. He shrugged. One little Shadow against their five Vorati. She couldn't hide forever.
Finally, he saw a sign of her passage. Several rocks pushed aside, their damp undersides turned to the sky, dirt and insects still clinging tight. She'd been here. Blake raised his head to alert his Vorati. Winter-bare trees surrounded him, their gray and brown trunks skeletal in the thin morning light. He was completely alone. Shaking off the eerie sense of being abandoned in the forest, he called out. Two voices echoed back in answer. Waiting, he heard them coming toward his position. Two. Not four. A tendril of uneasiness crept into his chest. Where were his other two Vorati? Had they wandered too far to hear him?
Blake waited, breath held. The two Vorati in his sight drew closer, their eyes scanning the ground for more signs of the Shadow's passage. The woods remained quiet. His other two demons were gone, disappeared as if they'd never been. Blake ran through the possibilities. Only one made sense.
Gabriel. Gabriel fucking Wright. He'd thought Gabe had left, driving off on a fool's errand to the other side of the mountain, chasing Blake and his nest while they took his woman. Had their goodbye been a fake? Or had Gabriel left the Shadow as bait for Blake?
It didn't matter. Whatever his intent, Gabe was here. Somewhere. Stalking them as they were stalking the Shadow. A rush of hatred swept Blake, twisted with cold fear. He'd hated Gabriel since they were children. Perfect Gabe. Always smarter. Always stronger. Gabe who'd gotten him branded a traitor, stolen Blake's place in the world. Gabe wouldn't stop him this time. This time, Blake was going to get what he wanted. Capture the Shadow and kill Gabe. Finally, he'd kill Gabriel Wright.
Focus. Blake needed to focus. He searched harder for the Shadow's trail. If he caught her, he'd have a weapon to hold against Gabe. While Gabe probably didn't have much feeling for the bitch, he'd always been soft. Blake doubted Gabe would be able to watch a woman he'd fucked die right in front of him without trying to save her. He spotted another sign, a broken branch surrounded by crushed leaves. Lifting his head to alert the two remaining demons, Blake watched in dismay as the action in the quiet woods shifted into high gear.
Gabe appeared from behind a thick tree trunk, calix in hand. Before Blake could call out a warning, the calix flew, its trajectory unnaturally steady and fast. A second later Blake understood why. The Shadow had emerged from her hiding place. Littered in damp earth and dry leaves, trembling arms outstretched toward the calix, the Shadow focused utterly on the thin copper dart. She was directing it, Blake realized. Lending it speed, sending the weapon directly to its target too quickly for the Voratus to dodge. His demon never saw it coming. The sharp-pointed calix struck deep. The Voratus collapsed, sinking beneath the layer of dead leaves, out of sight. Blake drew his knife and threw it at Gabe. Whipping through the air, the sharp blade sank to the hilt into Gabe's right shoulder. The Shadow cried out in shock, recoiling as if the knife had struck her own flesh. Blake lunged for her.
***
Celeste dodged Blake, backing up a few steps. An echo of hot pain throbbed in her shoulder. In her brain she knew a knife to the shoulder was nothing to a Warder soldier. Gabe wasn't just a soldier, he was a Sicarius. An elite assassin. The knife was a mosquito bite. The icy calm radiating from Gabe through their bond affirmed her thoughts. It didn't help the surge of panic in her heart
. Gabe had a knife in his shoulder. The hilt, wrapped in stained leather, protruded in a rude thrust. With a grunt, Gabe pulled the blade from his flesh. He straightened into a loose fighting stance, blood streaming down his right arm, the bloody knife held in his left hand. No one moved.
They stood in an unbalanced alignment. Blake and his remaining demon flanked Celeste, both too far away to reach her. Gabe was off to her left side, closer to Blake than to her. She was dangerously close to the other Voratus. For an endless breath, they were motionless, waiting in the brisk morning air. Gabe's blood dripped to the leaves in hushed droplets. Pat, pat, pat, pat. Celeste imagined they were all doing the same thing—weighing their options, calculating the odds. She was the safest of the four. She and Gabe wanted the Vorati dead. The Vorati wanted Gabe dead. Everyone wanted her alive. So she'd have to act.
Taking advantage of the hesitation that had frozen them all, Celeste sent her senses out in search of a current. A phone, a watch, anything that might use an electrical charge. She found it on the Voratus closest to her. Blake would have been better, but Celeste would take what she could get. Reaching, she coaxed the charge from the small battery, feeding it bits of the energy she'd drawn from the earth. Her touch was awkward and untrained. It didn't seem to matter. The charge grew on the demon's wrist, tripling in size in mere moments. The demon shook his hand, as if trying to dislodge a fly. Its action broke the artificial stillness. Blake lunged for Gabe. Gabe met him head on. Celeste sensed his attention snagging on her.
"I've got this," she called. "Don't let him get away."
"Be careful," was his brief answer.
She planned to. The Voratus to her right had realized she was doing something to him. It turned to her, showing her a face she vaguely recognized. Its eyes burned with hunger, hands already reaching for her.
"Shadow," it whispered, so hungry for the tension-rich emotion radiating from her skin, the thing missed the danger in the ball of power growing on its arm. Rustling, then thuds off to her left. From Gabe she felt exhilaration and a razor sharp intent. No fear. A dull pain in his shoulder. Not enough to distract him.
Raising her hands before her, Celeste pushed the ball of electricity up the demon's arm, using the natural conductivity of her victim's body against it. If she'd been a little less repulsed by killing the body of a man she recognized, she might have reveled in the way the electricity followed her prompts. It was hers. Hers to direct, to grow. It must be Gabriel. Something about the way they'd bonded balanced her connection to electricity. Literally grounded her so that she could touch it without being touched by it.
However it worked, the control gave her the finesse to send the charge she'd created straight to the demon's chest. As she had the night before, she held the ball of electricity in its heart, burning the organ to ash. This time, she was prepared. Walking closer to the demon now vibrating in place, a confused look on its face, Celeste pulled a calix from her jacket pocket. She flipped off the cap and drove the long dart into the demon's chest. In a rush, she drew the electricity back into her body. The demon dropped to the ground.
The burst of electrical power jolted into her. Stumbling, Celeste went down in a tangle of feet, landing on her ass in a sprawl. The ball of electricity spun out of her hand and dissipated into the earth. Frustrated, she smacked the dead leaves beside her. She'd planned to throw the charge at Blake. Her instincts told her she should be able to draw the electricity into herself, to make it her own and send it back out as a weapon. Too bad the execution was harder than the impulse. It looked like she had a lot of practice in her future.
Celeste rolled to her knees, crawling to the nearest rock big enough to hide behind. She kept her head down, and peered over the top to see how Gabe was doing. He and Blake grappled on the ground, both of them wrestling for a better position. Celeste had a second calix. But there was no way she was jumping in the middle of that fight. Both Gabe and Blake were far bigger than she was. And she had no idea how to fight. Not on their level. If she got too close, she was just going to get in the way.
Gabe managed to get a knee into Blake's chest, shoving the infected Warder back enough for Gabe to try to pin him. Gabe's grip on Blake's shoulder slipped, allowing Blake to twist away. Watching another minute, Celeste saw him go after Blake again, this time wrenching Blake's arm behind him. Again, Blake worked his way free. With a flash of clarity, Celeste understood. Gabe's injured shoulder had weakened his grip. Where he normally would have been more than a match for Blake, with his right arm close to useless, he didn't have the strength to take Blake down. Warders healed quickly, but not in the middle of a fight when his body's resources were already fully extended. How long before Gabe tired and made a mistake?
Celeste looked around, making sure her position was secure. No one in sight, only Gabe and Blake. Gabe needed his shoulder healed. She was a healer, but she'd always used touch. Could she use their bond to heal him from fifteen feet away? Or use it to send him power so the injured shoulder didn't matter? Without another way to help, Celeste figured she might as well give it a try.
Her anxiety was getting in the way. Celeste allowed her eyelids to drift closed. She drew in a slow, deep breath, calming her mind. The air tasted of cold, of damp leaves and dirt, of the barest hint of spring. And of blood. Of burnt flesh. She grimaced. Death stank. It wasn't helping to center her mind. Shadows trained extensively in meditation. As children it was the best way to teach them to control their powers. No one thought to add a class in meditating while sitting in the middle of a fight to the death.
Fine, the usual way wasn't going to work. Instead of sinking into a trance, Celeste focused her gaze on Gabriel. Their bond rose to the surface of her consciousness. When she had the time, she'd spend hours exploring it. Almost a physical thing to her Shadow mind, the bond was a conduit of energy, flowing from her to Gabriel and back again. Power from Celeste to Gabe. From Gabe a centering, an outlet for her overflow. The further Celeste concentrated, the more easily she saw the streams. A figure eight in the air, an infinity symbol of brightly colored energy. Her stream was a luminescent yellow, like living sunlight. Gabe's was the saturated blue of a clear sky. Where the streams crossed, the flow transformed to deep green. Together they shared everything she loved about a summer day in the mountains. Sun, sky, earth. Beautiful. Powerful.
Gathering her talent for healing, Celeste guided the energy along the bond, picturing the knife wound in his shoulder, the torn skin and severed blood vessels. If Gabe's energy balanced hers, maybe hers could spur his body to heal itself faster. Warders must have a little healing magic of their own.
Celeste gave the healing effort no more than two minutes. Without touching him, it was impossible to picture the wound accurately, or guide the healing energy to repair specific areas. Either her experiment was working or it wasn't. She was no expert at evaluating fights, but it looked like Gabe was using his right arm again. He and Blake still grappled on the ground. Time to move on.
Celeste shifted her concentration to the power she'd gathered earlier from the earth. With measured deliberation, Celeste funneled it to Gabe through the bond. The pure power wound through their bond, shading their energy flow a fiery red. Not the dull red of Vorati infection, but a vibrant shade, bursting with life. She saw him change the second the flame of power reached Gabriel.
His tall body surged with strength. Blake whimpered as Gabe's hands clamped to his shoulders with punishing force. With a shove that appeared effortless, Gabe slammed Blake to his back and pinned him with a knee to his chest. That fast, the fight was over. Celeste sustained the flow of energy to Gabe, waiting to see what he had planned. He'd be justified in killing the infected Warder. More than justified. Sicari were assassins. Would Gabe remember he needed information from Blake? Or would his desire for vengeance overpower logic?
Chapter Thirteen
Gabe couldn't believe the strength flowing through his body. Celeste was doing this. Had to be. The power tasted of her, sweet and strong. Ama
zing. He risked a glance in her direction. A triumphant smile played across her lips. A tiny line wrinkled between her eyebrows, her forehead furrowed in concentration. She'd probably hate to know she looked both heroic and adorable. Gabe stared down at Blake, resisting the urge to execute the traitor.
This thing had murdered Daniel. Gabe's hand had held the calix, but Blake had infected Gabe's brother. Daniel and how many other Warders? Blake couldn't just be killed. Gabe had to question him first. Fueled by Celeste's boost of power, Gabe could hold Blake on the cold ground all day.
"How many others are there?" Gabe asked. "How many of your own have you infected?"
"More than you'll be able to find," Blake said, sneering. "Daniel was just the first. My favorite. Watching the Voratus eat his soul was almost as good as doing it myself."
Gabe growled low in his throat, unable to speak past the knot of guilt, pain and fury. It took everything he had not to tear Blake's head from his shoulders. Blake went on, the sneer transforming to a sly smile.
"What was it like, killing your own brother? You two were always so close."
Before Blake could continue, a foot struck the side of his head, slamming it into the hard dirt. Gabe looked up at Celeste in surprise. She was furious, hands on her hips, rage burning in her eyes.
"Shut the fuck up," she said. "Tell us how you're infecting the Warders. Mention Gabe's brother again and I'll fucking end you."
Gabe didn't think he'd heard Celeste swear before. He'd never imagined her capable of delivering such a crude threat. Gabe had no doubt Celeste would do as she'd said. Shoulders tight with rage, she loomed over Blake, at least as much as someone so tiny could loom over anyone. Her right foot was already drawn back, ready to deliver another kick. Her attack on his behalf soothed the sting of Blake's taunts. Celeste was hot when she was pissed.
Shadow's Passion: The Shadow Warder Series: Prequel Novella Page 12