Luminous Spirits (Shadow Eyes Series Book 2)

by Dusty Crabtree

  I checked the time on my phone as I headed up to the front door. Eleven thirty. I raised an eyebrow. Kind of late for a first date, wasn’t it?

  I jingled my keys obnoxiously, just in case something awkward was going on that I didn’t want to see. Then I put the right key in the keyhole and opened the door. The living room was empty, but laughter floated from the dining room. I set my purse on the couch and crept around the corner.

  “Iris! Welcome home.” My mom’s eyes sparkled as she stabbed a marshmallow with a long skewer-type thing and dunked it into a small pot. Both she and Robert, whom I recognized from Gregory’s picture, were sitting at the dining room table beside each other, leaning over the same pot.

  “Hi, Iris. Nice to meet you.” Robert set down his skewer upon seeing me and wiped his hands on his slacks. As he finished chewing what was in his mouth, he approached me, arm outstretched with his back to my mother. “Name’s Robert.” He gave my hand a warm shake and winked at me as his mouth curled into a grin. He knew who I was, and I knew who he used to be. He had a twinkle in his strikingly deep blue eyes that suggested a thousand adventures slashing shadows and saving souls. The fight was still in him. We already shared a common bond, but I would’ve liked him without it. Everything about him was easygoing and likable.

  “Nice to meet you too.” I smiled and winked back before he returned to his seat. I looked at my mom who was in the process of stabbing a slice of banana.

  “Robert and I went out for dinner tonight,” she said as she coated the piece of fruit until it was dripping with what I assumed was chocolate. “And we were going to order desert, but Robert asked me if I’d ever had fondue.”

  “Fondue?” I looked from her to Robert.

  “Well, fondue is melted cheese,” he explained as he stroked his half-shaved beard. “But for dessert, you just melt chocolate and dip stuff in it.” He shrugged.

  “Oh, quit being a guy and stop playing down the frou-frou-ness of it.” She nudged him playfully and he laughed. “I mean, come on. Iris, look at this spread we bought at the store.” She motioned to the table. “We’ve got strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pretzels, and chunks of brownie... It’s like a dessert dream.”

  Robert gazed at my mom as she ate the slice of chocolate-coated banana. She noticed and grinned sheepishly.

  He crossed his arms on the table and leaned in to her, his tone matter-of-fact. “Well, maybe I just haven’t had anyone to get all frou-frou with in a while.” He shrugged and tipped his head to the side. “I might be out of practice.” He gave a quick nod and started to stand back up. “This is too much. I can tell. I overdid it. I’ll just throw this all away so we don’t—”

  My mom smacked his outstretched arm. “Don’t you dare.”

  He chuckled as he sat back down with hands raised in surrender.

  I smiled to myself. My mom was happy for once. She and Robert had only known each other for two days and had already hit it off.

  Robert turned his attention to me. “Iris, dig in. Like your mom said, the chocolate and everything is delicious. Here’s a fondue fork for you.” He held out a clean skewer from the table.

  “I told him you’d be home soon,” my mom said. “So he insisted we set out a fork for you.”

  Robert’s relaxed and pleasant demeanor made me feel welcome, but I wanted to give them their space. “That sounds awesome, but I’m really pretty tired. Thank you though.”

  “Well, okay then.” Robert set the fork back down. “We’ll have to hang out soon though. Deal?”

  “Deal. Don’t stay up too late now, you two.” I winked at them both and then headed to bed.

  “Such a sweet girl. I’m guessing she gets that from you, Shelly?” Robert’s voice trailed off as I shut my bedroom door. I leaned against it and grinned from ear to ear. Gregory was pretty good at this cupid stuff.

  Chapter 19

  “So, are you sure we won’t get pulled over?” I cringed as Gregory sped up to fifty down a residential area. We’d had some crazy shadow hunt or rescue to go to almost every night of spring break so far, which, needless to say, was really starting to wear on me. I was grateful for the training, of course. Learning you had two demons working together to get you and your boyfriend really did wonders for motivation. However, of all the trips we’d made in Gregory’s car to go shadow hunting, this was the first time I’d seen him speed so fast.

  “I’m sure, Iris,” Gregory answered over his shoulder.

  “I mean, I know we need to get to this gang shooting before it happens and all, but—” Gregory had shoved his foot on the accelerator. He whipped between two cars as if he were drag racing. I grimaced and clung to the cushion of my seat having lost my train of thought.

  Patrick spun around in the passenger seat, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. “Newbie.”

  I smirked like a ten-year-old. “Thanks for reminding me.”

  “Hey,” Kyra spoke up in my defense. “She’s got more skills than you.”

  “Oh!” I stuck my pointer finger in his face to rub it in. He rolled his eyes and twisted back around.

  “So where are we going anyway?” Kyra asked as Gregory pulled into a seedy neighborhood and started to slow down.

  “Right here.” He parked the car, flicked off the ignition, and killed the lights.

  “What, like a stake out?” I asked.

  “No,” Patrick answered for Gregory as he shifted in his seat to stare through the windshield. “There won’t be any waiting. They’re right over there.”

  Kyra peered around Gregory’s other side, so I unbuckled my seatbelt. Squeezing myself in between the two front seats, I could finally see as well. Before long I spotted the large group of intimidating gang members in a loose huddle in front of an aging house. They weren’t moving much but kept scouting out the area as though they were waiting for someone.

  The frightening ink-black figures in the air above their heads, however, moved enough for them. They were even more intimidating than the actual gang members, which was remarkable because the humans had guns. But the way the dark masses moved—violent yet methodical—it all screamed of power and control. Their domineering presence would make an army commander cower in submission. They were more than agitated. More than fitfully fighting within themselves. These shadows weren’t ready to cause a fight. They were ready to kill.

  “We’re not going out there. Right?” I asked without dropping my gaze.

  “No.” Kyra shook her head. “Those are P.U.S. shadows.”

  I immediately exhaled and then breathed in deeply. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in my breath. With a Permanent and Unyielding shadow, the carrier was so far gone there was no use attempting to destroy his shadow. Helping someone like that was out of a light warrior’s abilities. But there was still a job we could do. “So what are we going to do about the victim? Do we know where he is?”

  Gregory was staring at his phone. “Already on it.” He finished reading whatever was on the screen, typed out a quick reply, and then tucked the phone in his pocket. “What?” he said defensively when he saw me studying him with a raised eyebrow. “Angels can text.”

  “What did you find out?” Patrick asked.

  “Our victim is walking home from work right now. This is his house just down the street.” He pointed to an old house four houses down from the where the group was standing. “If we pull the car around the block and park, we should be able to catch him and tell him not to go home. Then he can call the police and wait at a friend’s house. That way we don’t have to get involved and explain to the police how we knew all about the planned shooting.”

  He flicked the key in the ignition and the engine roared, more loudly than I would have preferred. Several heads turned our way at the sound. Luckily, nobody left their post.

  A couple blocks past the corner Gregory pulled to the curb and killed the engine and lights once more. “We should be able to intersect our guy here in a few minutes.”

  As no one
had anything left to say, a hush fell over the car. Until the muffled lyrics of “Devil Woman” randomly began playing from Patrick’s pocket.

  He rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone. After pushing a button, the music stopped and he shoved the phone back in his pocket. “I swear, if she calls or texts me one more time, I’m going to change my number.”

  “Well…” I tried to hide the irritation in my own voice. “Maybe she’ll leave you alone once she finds out you were just pretending to like her before and that she’s never in fact going to get you.”

  “That’s your ring tone for Lila?” Kyra laughed so hard she almost snorted. “Classic!”

  “Who else would I label with that lovely term of endearment?”

  The fact that Lila continued to call and text my boyfriend was not exactly the ideal situation. He’d already told her he’d changed his mind and decided to stay with us, but she kept bugging him. Apparently, she was still living under the delusion that she could get him back. I was finally certain Patrick would never leave me for her, so I told myself I could suck it up and play along. We didn’t want her getting suspicious. But dealing with her crap still sucked.

  “Is that our guy there?” Kyra pointed down the street to a buckled, overgrown sidewalk. Through the pitch-black sky a few street lamps produced enough light to reveal a lone figure hunched over. His hands were stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie and the hood obscured the majority of his face. The houses and trees in the background behind him fluctuated under a blurry film of darkness.

  “Yep. That should be him.” Gregory turned around to face me as though I were the only other one in the car. “What do you say we go prevent a crime, Iris?”

  I glanced back and forth at both Patrick and Kyra. Gregory had never taken just me. Especially when the shadow-hunt had involved strange, potentially dangerous men in non-crowded areas.

  “We don’t need all four of us,” he explained. “And I figured your shadow-hearing ability would come in handy. So, what do you say?”

  My previous fear from seeing the mob of bloodthirsty shadows had dissipated. Somehow, Gregory’s singling me out as his partner awakened some dormant part of me that had only begun to awaken over the last few weeks. Adrenaline pumped fire throughout my body. A tenacious grin spread across my face. Without a word, I hastily unbuckled my seatbelt and pried open the door. I was not only ready for this. I was made for it.

  Patrick’s touch on my shoulder, so I paused at just long enough for him to speak one last spark of encouragement. “Go get ’em, rock star.” I winked at him and stepped out onto the barren street. The smack of Gregory’s door closing came seconds after mine.

  I skipped around the car to meet him on the other side. “I’m ready.”

  His simple smile was loaded with meaning. “I know you are.”

  As Gregory walked towards our mark, his feet moved lightly across the old road so as to barely make any sound. I followed suit. Once we reached the sidewalk, we began a casual stroll as if it were completely normal for the two of us to be walking out late at night in this type of neighborhood. We would intersect paths with him in less than a minute. From the short distance between us, the oppressive fog that clung to the man’s entire body already seemed massive. There was no telling how monstrous the shadow would truly be when face to face.

  Gregory’s glow burst from his skin, so I cranked up my light as high as I could. We were only a few yards away, and the closer we got, the more defined the shadow became. It was definitely a permanent emotional shadow like Lucas, but also heavier and more dense as if it had been accumulating mass over years and years. The leech must have been crippling this poor young man with its lies and domineering abuse practically since birth.

  “I’ll talk,” Gregory said. “You do whatever your light leads you to do.” His pace slowed as we finally reached our targets. One needed to be saved. The other, annihilated.

  Once I was finally able to see the shadow up close, I knew I would need more light. The thing was massive, intimidating. I harnessed my passion, hoping to add fuel to my aura…and got more than I bargained for.

  Something jolted inside of me as if a trap door had been knocked open. The ensuing flood that gushed through was overpowering. For a brief moment all I could see was light. But as the light slowly burned away from my eyes and my vision returned, I no longer felt overpowered but empowered. It was as though I’d been sucked into another, stronger body and was seeing through a different pair of eyes. I was so lost in the new and strange sensation I could barely follow what Gregory was saying.

  The more I’d practiced with my light, the more comfortable I’d become with using it as a tool to help in situations where light was needed. Never before, however, had I so fully embraced my aura. So much so to the point where it had consumed me. I was no longer simply glowing on the surface. The light burned through every part of me. It owned me. It was me. I felt incredibly light yet twice as strong. I felt usable, like the light could wield me in any way necessary, yet freer than ever before.

  Through new eyes I saw this man. He listened intently to the glowing angel beside me but darted his eyes at me every now and then. He was nervous, unsure. But his hardened mask of fearlessness had made him an expert at hiding his feelings. He trusted no one. Not even himself. He had no one to turn to. No one who truly cared about him. And he didn’t know how anything could ever be any different.

  The realization hit me hard in my gut. His situation was so unfair and so unjust. This suffocating leech had claimed his soul, held him captive, and made him believe this was as good as he’d ever get. I had to do something. This man needed to feel the freedom I knew was possible.

  As if to confirm my assumptions the shadow’s harsh and grating voice suddenly cut through my ear drums with such volume and force I had to struggle to keep from covering my ears. My empathy had become so strong, the wall of words hit me like a tidal wave. Words of despair. Words of heartache and isolation. Words that had already whittled away so much of the man’s spirit. Their dull pain was a resounding gong banging repeatedly on the dry bones that were left.

  He pulled out his phone and twisted around to face away from us. As he lowered his head and put the phone to his ear, I saw my chance. I was only mildly aware of Gregory’s blatant stare in my direction. My light-consumed silhouette must have looked incredible. I felt incredible. But I didn’t have time to consider it.

  I severed the sound tunnel and approached the fluctuating, thick mass with my hands stretched out to my side. I reached out, closed my eyes, and let the light take over. The moment I latched on to the shadow, it started to squirm, so I dug in more fiercely.

  I opened my eyes. The chaotic cloud I was wrestling with grew smaller by the second, even as its frantic energy squirmed under my arms. I was winning. And having my arms basically in the shadow wasn’t affecting me at all. But the parasite still clung desperately to its host. Second after second, a new shadowy tentacle lashed out from every angle to get a better hook on some part of the man’s body, but the shadow’s hold kept slipping.

  Finally, in one last ditch effort at self-preservation, the fog jerked itself free of its host. The move was so abrupt I faltered backwards towards Gregory who caught me before I lost my balance. My grasp loosened in shock. What was left of the shadow dashed away around the corner.

  What had seemed half an hour had been less than thirty seconds. But my exhaustion begged to differ. Gregory gently pulled me up until I sensed my feet firmly planted beneath me. And not a moment too soon.

  The man gradually began to turn back to us and slid his phone in his pocket. His brow furrowed heavily over his narrowed eyes, which dodged left and right before landing on us. He was probably used to not trusting anyone, let alone strangers. But the brightness in his eyes was clearly questioning his usual bent on defensiveness.

  “Did you get a hold of your friend?” Gregory asked.

  “Yeah, yeah.” He nodded a few more times than was necessary. “He’
s on his way. He’s going to pick me up right here.” He rubbed his hands over his arms for friction even though he couldn’t have been that cold in his hoodie. He seemed uncomfortable, like he wasn’t used to the strange weightlessness of being free.

  He must have been warming up to his freedom, though, because he seemed to have a hard time fighting off a smile. His mouth kept moving and working, opening as if to speak and then closing again.

  Gregory had one more question to make sure all our bases were covered. “Did you call the cops, too?”

  “Yeah. I told ’em what you told me.” He squinted his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “How did you know they were after me anyway?” Considering the circumstances, it would’ve been natural for him to be suspicious. But he wasn’t. Instead, his tone was filled with awe.

  Gregory smiled. “We got a tip from someone. So we thought we’d help.”

  The smile he’d been hiding rose to the surface. He let out a short laugh. “Unbelievable.”

  My blazing light had dimmed to its usual glow but was still effective enough for one last job. I wasn’t going to be naive. Such a permanent shadow as his would be back. But I would at least do what I could to make this guy think twice about willingly let it reclaim his life.

  I took a step forward and did something I never thought I’d do. I reached out and touched this stranger’s arm. “I wanted to say I’m truly impressed with how well you’re handling all of this. I know a lot of guys would have either run away or tried to face the gang head on like an idiot.”

  He grinned at my joke, but the lighthearted mood was only meant to loosen him up. I didn’t intend to stay there. “You did the right thing. The honorable thing. It took a lot of guts to call the cops. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

  As he met my gaze, his mouth twitched. I doubted anyone had ever called him brave for doing something honorable. In fact, based on the conflict and turmoil in his eyes, I guessed he’d been told quite the opposite.