Fading Light: Shadow Born, Book 2

by Angela Dennis

  Gray turned back to the witch. “You can do this, Gwen. Agnes wouldn’t have sent you otherwise.”

  Head held high, body trembling, she pulled herself from his grasp and walked to the others. She motioned to one of the younger witches. The other woman pulled a jewel-encrusted athame from inside her cloak. She held the silver blade to the sky and murmured an incantation. After a few moments, the silver dripped with fire. With a nod, she began to cast a circle around them with the blade.

  As she moved the other witches joined hands, chanting. Their power streamed through the air, activating the spelled barrier that trapped them on the hillside. The magical construct glowed red in the dim light, reacting to their presence. Magic swelled around them, fueled by grief and rage, until it manifested in a tumultuous cloud above their heads. Adare’s barrier shook from their assault, glowing in the moonlight.

  Satisfied the witches had it under control, Gray returned to the tent.

  “What did you do with the bodies?” Gray asked Keegan as he stepped inside.

  “Some of the hunters are burying them in the field. I told them to mark the graves, so the witches could pay their respects once they were done.” He sank into a metal folding chair. “So much for going in quietly.”

  Gray shrugged. “Adare was tipped off. Otherwise he wouldn’t have put up wards. He knew we were coming.”

  Keegan considered for a moment, then nodded. “Then we go in guns blazing. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

  “Except our lives,” one of the hunters spat out from the other side of the tent.

  Turning, Keegan hissed. “Unwanted commentary from the peanut gallery.” He paused. “I could kill you now and save Adare the trouble. You knew what you signed up for before you came.”

  Gray shook his head, stopping him with a hand to the chest as Keegan started toward the other man. “You’re not helping. Maybe you should go outside with the witches.”

  Keegan glared at him, but nodded. In a blur of movement he disappeared.

  “Anyone else got something to say?” Gray stared them down. Although they were few in number, with the right attitude they could do the job. Keegan was right, a piss poor attitude would get them all killed.

  None of them would meet his gaze. Gray motioned them forward. “Circle around me,” he instructed. “I’m going to cast a protection spell over you. It will shield you from harm as long as you don’t go inside the tunnels.” There wasn’t a spell strong enough to protect them from Adare, but Adare would stay inside.

  The detractor spoke up. He was a young werewolf with an ego large enough to fill the tent. Stepping forward, his lean body filled with rage, he stood toe to toe with Gray. “The element of surprise was all we had going for us. We should leave. We can’t win.”

  Gray bit back a sharp retort. He didn’t have time for a pissing match with a kid. Gathering his magic, he sent the wolf back to the boarding house.

  “I don’t want anyone here that doesn’t want to be here. Say the word and I’ll send you back.” He glanced around the room. The hunters stared back, anticipation in their gazes. No one spoke. “As soon as the witches get the barrier down, we go in. You will go first and provide the distraction Keegan and I need to get into the tunnels. As soon as we’re in, I want you to pull out and join the witches. They will teleport you back to the boarding house where there will be healers waiting.”

  The men began to argue, but Gray raised his hand to silence them. “I know you want to fight, but even if we get Adare today, there’s still a war coming. Things have gone too far. We can’t afford to lose you. You’ll have your turn. Now line up and get ready. I want you down that mountain the second the barrier breaks.”

  As the hunters were filing out of the tent, Gray’s phone began to ring. It was Brenna. “Miss me already,” he answered.

  “Of course,” she laughed softly. “Your defector is here. Should I lock him up?”

  Gray shook his head, then realized she couldn’t see him. “No. He’s just a scared kid. But don’t let him leave.”

  “He said things were going downhill.” The tension in her voice was pronounced. Damn werewolf, Gray may just have to skin him after this was over.

  “It’s fine. Something unexpected, but nothing we can’t handle.” He closed his eyes. Although he tried to sound nonchalant, she knew him too well not to hear the stress in his voice. “Why did you call me instead of using our link?”

  “I wanted to hear your voice,” she said as he stepped outside. He quickly went back inside the tent so that he was alone. “Be careful, Gray. I don’t want to do this life without you.”

  Stunned, he responded, “I don’t want to do this life without you either, Brenna. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “I love you, Gray. I have issues and I’m not ready to take things to the level you want, but I still love you.” She ended the call before he had a chance to respond.

  “I love you too,” he murmured. “More than you know.”

  For a moment he stood there, gathering his thoughts. When they had first returned to this plane after confronting her father, she had told him she loved him. But in the past few weeks, he had begun to wonder if she had changed her mind. The ups and downs in their relationship were enough to drive anyone crazy, and Brenna wasn’t known for her patience. Her words filled him with relief. Despite their issues, love gave them a strong foundation to build on. And it gave him the renewed determination he needed before he faced Adare. Now they just had to get out of this mess alive.

  The next time Gray stepped outside the tent, the witches stared back at him. Their eyes were filled with exhaustion, pain, and exhilaration. Although three more of their coven lay on the snow near death, they had broken the barrier. The witches had sacrificed themselves to get Gray’s men through. He owed them, but it was a debt that was impossible to repay.

  Gray moved toward the edge of the hillside. The demolished hospital stood in the valley below them, a seemingly harmless pile of rubble and dirt. Gray glanced over at where the hunters stood poised to attack and gave them a nod. The pounding of their combat boots against the rocky hillside sang in the silence as they barreled toward the compound.

  As they touched down in the valley, defensive wards exploded around them. Several low class demons, secure in their human hosts, appeared in the rubble. They attacked the hunters, but Gray’s men were too strong.

  The battle raging around them, Gray and Keegan made their way to the far end of the old hospital. A metal grate marked the entrance to the tunnels, and Keegan pulled it free and jumped inside. Gray checked the perimeter to make sure they hadn’t been followed, then jumped in after him.

  The smell was abhorrent. Gray’s eyes watered as they struggled through the stagnant knee deep water that filled the concrete tunnels.

  “What is that smell?” Keegan murmured.

  “It’s a deterrent spell.” Gray wiped at his eyes. “A strong one.”

  They didn’t speak as they followed the winding tunnels. Eventually they ended up in a damp dirt room. Similar to the Underground market, the large space was empty except for a cage, a sleeping bag, and a gargoyle.

  At first Gray thought Lucy was dead. She lay curled in the huge iron cage, her back to them. But as they moved forward, she rolled over. Her eyes were blood caked and swollen shut. Unable to see, she sniffed the air, the tension in her body fading as she recognized their scent.

  “Get out of here,” she whispered, struggling to sit. “It’s a trap.”

  “We know.” Keegan ripped open the door to her cage. “We’re smart like that.” He gathered Lucy in his arms and laid her gently on the muddy floor.

  Gray tossed him a healing potion.

  “Drink,” Keegan instructed as he pressed it to her lips.

  She sucked down the potion, her lips cracked and bleeding. Before long her wounds began to fade and she could ope
n her eyes. A few more moments and she was standing, although she was a little wobbly.

  “Adare knows you’re coming.” Her eyes wide, she glanced at the opening on the other end of the room. “We need to get out of here.”

  “No,” Keegan said gently, turning her to face the tunnels they had passed through. “You need to get out of here. There are witches on the hillside. They’ll teleport you to safety.”

  She studied them carefully, her eyes switching back and forth from them to the tunnels. “You can’t beat him. You don’t even know what he is. Come with me.”

  Gray shook his head. “What is he, Lucy?”

  “The hell if I know,” she replied. “But he’s stronger than anything I’ve seen. You can’t beat him.”

  “Leave that to us. We need to get you out of here.” Gray pulled another potion from his jeans and handed it to her. “Drink this if you run into trouble. It will make you stronger.”

  She took it and shoved it into her pants. She moved closer to Keegan, reaching on her tiptoes to see him better. “Don’t let Adare win.” She jumped toward him, pressing a kiss on the dragon’s mouth. “I’ll see you on the other side.” And with those words, she scurried away through the tunnels.

  Gray laughed at Keegan’s stunned face. He hadn’t realized Lucy could move like that; maybe there was more to the gargoyle than he thought. “Never thought your battle kiss would be from a gargoyle.”

  “Shut it,” Keegan hissed. He glanced toward the tunnels. “She better get out, or I’ll rip Adare limb from limb and take my time eating his broken body.”

  “Sounds appetizing.” Adare’s shadow drifted into the room before the man himself. Gray had felt him coming, so he wasn’t surprised.

  “I was waiting for her to leave,” Adare continued. “I wanted to spare Brenna her pet, since I plan on taking her lover.”

  “Good luck with that.” Keegan grinned. His anticipation was obvious. The dragon wanted this fight.

  Adare walked more fully into the room, and Gray got his first good glimpse of him. Standing nearly as tall as Gray, Adare’s lean muscular body was encased in black leather pants and a button-up black shirt. He had rolled up his sleeves, and they strained against his biceps. His dark hair hung in waves below his shoulders. This was not the Adare Gray had known in years past. Gone was the crafty, manipulative deviant mage he had known before. In his place was a self-assured man who reeked of magic and power. And the power that spilled off him did not belong to a mage. Maybe after being burned by Ga’loh he was paranoid, but Gray was willing to bet Adare was something different altogether.

  “It took you long enough.” Adare stopped before them, hands on his hips. “It shouldn’t have been that hard to figure out where I was. You’ve lost your touch, Gray.”

  “If you wanted us dead, you would have sent your demons to attack us, so what do want, Adare?” Gray tensed. He could feel the magic stirring in the room, thickening the air around them.

  Adare held his hand in front of him, palm up. A thick ball of black smoke swirled on his outstretched palm. It sparked with power, sending shards slamming against the dirt walls. “I want you gone, back in your own world.”

  “You and I both know that’s not an option.” Gray responded. “Besides, this plane belongs to the humans.”

  “So now you’re a sympathizer. Those humans are already dead. I put the toxin in their water. It’s only a matter of time before they’re dust. Once they’re dead, we’ll move from state to state. The idiots will blame the deviants and rise up against them. The ones that are immune to our disease will die from the war. Once the ants are dead, we’ll go after the rest.”

  “Not going to happen. Brenna’s working on getting the cure. We’re stopping this thing before it starts.” Keegan snarled. “Sorry about your luck.”

  Adare shook his head. “Do you think he doesn’t know what you’re planning? It was ingenious though, I’ll give you that.”

  Gray and Keegan shared a distressed gaze. “How would you know that?” Gray asked.

  “You’ve got a lesser demon in your house. He’s too weak to fight Ga’loh’s control. I say jump, and he says how high.” Adare grinned. “It’s like having a puppy, but without the mess.”

  Sam had left, but Gray had never put up a boundary to keep him from coming back. Ga’loh could have teleported him upstairs to overhear their whole conversation, and they would have been none the wiser. Adare was poking at their weaknesses and Gray couldn’t stop him.

  Keegan cursed. “I knew it. I’ll rip that bastard limb from limb and gnaw on his bones until they–”

  “Enough.” Gray linked with Keegan. They would deal with the depth of Sam’s betrayal later. If they were going to do something, they had to do it now. They needed to go big, and go home. Keegan tensed the moment before he sprang forward. The room was too small for him to shift fully, but his arms morphed into scaly dagger-like claws, his torso and head into a serpent-like beast with rows of sharp deadly teeth. Keegan was lightening quick. His mouth was around Adare’s thigh, yanking him to the ground, before the other man could blink.

  Yelling an incantation, Adare pried the dragon’s teeth free. Blood dripped from his shredded hands. His leg hung useless, nearly ripped in half. But Adare only laughed. Wrapping his magic around his shattered form, he healed his wounds until he stood before them whole once again.

  “Well, shit,” Keegan’s rough voice spoke through their psychic link. “What am I supposed to do, swallow him whole?”

  Gray cursed and tossed a fire ball at Adare.

  Adare batted it away like a gnat.

  Gray filtered his magic through the water in the tunnels. It drained into the cavern in a wave of ice and frost. Gray held it before him, an enormous frozen barrier. Focusing his magic on Adare, he shattered it. Shards of ice flew at the mage, slicing through his clothing and spilling his blood.

  Adare shook himself. Ice fell at his feet in clumps, splintering as it hit the ground. He moved toward Gray, a grin on his lips. “I thought you’d be more of a challenge.” He flung one arm toward Gray and a mass of black smoke tangled through the air. It wrapped around Gray’s chest, tightening until Gray hit his knees, unable to breath. As his vision began to dim, Gray saw Keegan lunge at the mage. He wrapped a hand around Adare’s throat and threw him against the wall.

  The construct around Gray dissolved. He lay panting. Sweat dripped from his forehead. He stumbled to his feet, a fireball in his hand. It hit Adare square in the chest.

  “That’s more like it.” Adare stared at the gaping hole in his chest. Blood dripped from his torn throat. “Not good enough, but a start.”

  Gray growled in frustration as the damage to Adare’s body began to heal once again. Gray’s chest ached, and it was still difficult to breathe. He gripped his katana, and waited for an opportunity.

  Keegan circled Adare. He had shifted to a smaller version of his beast, and his tail whipped along behind him. It struck the wall repeatedly, sending dirt spiraling into the air. Keegan lunged in a blur of movement. In seconds, he had Adare by the throat. Keegan tossed him up in the air and caught him with his teeth, shaking him like a rag doll. When Keegan spit him out, he fell to the floor, broken and bloody. But, within moments, he stood shook himself off. This time, at least, he was unable to repair all of the damage. Maybe if they double teamed him, they could eventually wear him down.

  Adare’s eyes were bright red as he focused on Keegan. He flicked his hand back and a cloud of thick smoke surrounded the dragon. Keegan struggled to stand. He threw his head back, fire streaming from his mouth. As it touched the smoke, the smoke dissolved.

  Gray lunged forward. The tip of his blade slashed through the mage’s clothing, sinking into skin. Blood poured down Adare’s chest, pooling in the dirt at his feet. Gray unsheathed the dagger. The blade throbbed against his skin, anticipating the taste of Adare’s blood. A
s Adare attacked, Gray threw it with a flick of his wrist. Adare dove to the side, his reaction lightning fast.

  Cursing, Gray watched his precious weapon slam against the dirt floor. He opened his psychic link with Keegan. “I’m going to bind his magic. Keep him occupied.” Gray shifted so Keegan was blocking him. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was worth a try.

  As Keegan attacked Adare, the two of them moved into the center of the room to give Gray more space to work. He called to the dagger and it slid across the dirt and into his waiting palm.

  With a whispered incantation, Gray sliced the blade across his wrist. As his blood muddied the dirt floor, he called on his magic to enchant the blade. For the spell to be powerful enough, he would have to use a portion of his own magical essence. It was a huge risk because it would weaken him.

  Adare was locked in battle with Keegan, his back vulnerable. Gray moved behind him, slamming the dagger, into the back of Adare’s thigh. The mage screamed, a shrill ear-piercing howl that sent Gray stumbling backwards. Blood streamed from Gray’s ears as the mage continued to wail.

  In horror, Gray watched as Keegan hit his knees, momentarily stunned. Adare pulled free the iron spike strapped to his leg and slashed through the dragon’s belly. Blood spurted the dirt walls as Keegan fell back.

  Adare growled. His human form began to flicker, and Gray caught a glimpse of what lay beneath the cultured exterior. What he saw made him wonder if it was a hallucination. Reptilian scales covered an elongated nose and chin. He caught a glimpse of a set of red piercing eyes before Adare managed to repair his glamour.

  What lay beneath Adare’s glamour tasted of an ancient magic Gray hadn’t seen in centuries. He watched in horror as Adare pulled the ruby-encrusted dagger from his thigh. The spell was only half cast. What was left played on the blade like a misplaced song. Adare held it to the light, a strange look on his face.

  “Creative,” he murmured. Laying the dagger on his palm, he murmured an incantation. The blade sparked once. The spell faltered, then renewed.

  Adare glanced over to where Keegan lay trembling in the mud. “I don’t want to kill your dragon. And, believe it or not, I don’t want to kill you.”