Dark Flight (The Shadow Slayers)

by Cassi Carver

  “Yes,” Gavin answered. “He was…upset when we brought you here.”

  “Oh.” Her heart sank. She wasn’t even welcome here in her time of need anymore. Is that how fast their friendship had deteriorated? “I’m feeling good enough to travel now. We don’t need to impose on him any longer.”

  That was a lie. Her body felt like it’d been flushed down the toilet of life, but she couldn’t think of anything more humiliating than forcing her presence on the man who’d dumped her.

  “It’s not an imposition,” a low voice said quietly from the balcony.

  She swallowed and glanced that direction to see Julian, onyx wings folded and his dark hair tied back. He wore black leather pants, which she’d never seen on him before. He was still as hideously handsome as always.

  He walked through the open doors and stood at the foot of the bed. “Why do you do this, Kara? Why are you so careless with your life?”

  She tilted her chin higher. “I’m immortal, remember?”

  “You didn’t seem so immortal when Gavin carried you in tonight. To say you were unconscious is being kind.” He glared at Jaxon, as though he had a bone to pick with him. “Your heart had stopped beating entirely and your blood was cold and congealed in your veins. For all intents and purposes—you were dead.”

  “Really?” Her mouth gaped. “Those Sanctiáre are some mean sons o’ bitches.” Jaxon snorted in response. “But anyhow, here I am—heart stopped and started again. Immortal, if I do say so myself.”

  Julian growled. “She failed, Gavin. She admits it. Will you take her to the surface now and keep her there for good?”

  Gavin’s jaw clenched. “Someone once told me that self-preservation is worth little without self-determination. It’s her choice, my friend, and she’s chosen. Feather or no feather, she wants to be a part of this.”

  “This is ludicrous!” Julian balled his fists, and flames shot out of his mouth as if he were a fire-breathing dragon.

  Kara’s eyes went wide. The headboard behind her caught fire, but she couldn’t feel any heat to it. “It looks like Julian has some new tricks up his sleeve. I’m taking it his time with Mazeki was a success?”

  “Thanks to you, Kara—” Jaxon glanced to the orange flames and quirked a brow, “—though it doesn’t appear he’s ready to express his gratitude quite yet.”

  “Are you ready to go home?” Gavin asked her.

  She nodded. “Yeah. Back to the apartment. I need to regroup. I need to figure out a way to get that feather.”

  “No!” all three men shouted in unison.

  “Okay, then take me to see Mazeki. I need to let him know what happened on the mountain. You still have the map, right?”

  Gavin pulled it from the satchel around his waist. “It’s right here, for all the good it did. I mean to give Mazeki a piece of my mind. Think of all the time we wasted on Nefren’s land, and there was nothing to find there, after all.”

  “Yes, there was,” Kara answered. “And we found him. Or maybe you could say he found us.”

  Gavin’s brows drooped, and he looked utterly confused. “Engus?”

  Kara shifted, trying to get comfortable. “No, my brother.” Then she met Julian’s eyes. “You know—the scout.”

  The tepid flames behind her head rose even higher. “You allowed her to come in contact with the scout? After everything I’ve done!”

  Kara had rarely seen Gavin look more sheepish. “In the commotion of Kara’s heart stopping, I may have forgotten to mention that. That scout is not your average silver-wing—he was able to breach the island’s wards. But after we resolve this issue with Brakken, I am going to petition for a meeting with Ailexon.”

  Julian’s breathing stilled. “Why Ailexon?”

  “Because our best guess is that’s where the boy resides. I followed him there.”

  “No,” Julian finally said. “This is too much, Gavin Cross. You ask me to help defeat your father, and you can’t even keep my woman safe in the meantime. I will take care of her myself. Damn you and your father to hell.”

  Kara surged to her feet before she was even sure she could support her weight on her quivery knees. “Your woman? Screw you and the high horse you rode in on! Let me jog your memory, you…you selfish shithead! ‘I’m a fucking black-wing, Kara, and I don’t plan on letting the first woman I’ve slept with cage me and clip my wings. This has gone on long enough.’ Ring any bells?”

  Julian’s expression twisted in outrage. “I only said that to keep you safe! Clearly that isn’t possible unless you’re near me. I take back what I said.”

  “Huh?” Kara’s head spun and her stomach was doing a backflip in her gut. The only thing keeping her on her feet was her pride. “You can’t just take it back! You broke up with me!” And then there was also that little matter of her sleeping with Gavin, and it might make her feel like a tramp if she wasn’t so sure that she was in love with him.

  Gavin rose and took Kara’s elbow. “Jaxon, you may go back now and let Abbey know that Kara is well. I need to speak with Julian privately.”

  The room was spinning, and at that point Kara didn’t know if it was the pain of her injuries, the possibility that Julian might still love her, or the unknown of whatever Gavin was about to say.

  “I’ll check on you later,” Jaxon told her, and then he flashed.

  Gavin set his feet apart and took Kara’s arm more firmly in his grasp. “You were right in releasing her, Julian. It’s true that you and Kara can’t truly have a life together with her on the surface and you here. And furthermore…I should also tell you that—”

  “Oh, crap. I gotta sit down. I’m gonna be sick.” Kara dropped to her rear on the edge of the mattress and plunged her head between her knees.

  “Tell me what, silver-wing?” Julian spat.

  “Kara and I made love. I love her—I always have—and I believe she loves me, too.”

  At that moment, three things happened almost simultaneously. Kara’s mouth opened wide and from the look of it, everything she’d eaten in the last week spewed from her stomach onto Julian’s make-believe floor. Julian opened his mouth just as wide and began to roar so loudly that the walls of the apartment blew away like sheets of paper. And Gavin laid his hand on Kara’s bowed head, flashing so quickly that Kara was pretty sure she left a trail of nastiness from the Shadowland all the way to downtown San Diego.

  Abbey finished blow-drying Kara’s hair and putting the finishing touches on her eye make-up. But after her stomach issues, Kara had to brush her teeth all on her own.

  “You know, Kare-bear… We could come back after dinner, and you could change before you go to Mercury Island. Don’t you think the all-black outfit and combat boots might scare the neighbors? You look like you’re ready to go on an ‘impossible mission’ to break into O.P.A. headquarters or something.”

  “No. I need to be ready.”

  “Oh! What about your cute yellow sundress?”

  “Abbs, I look great. Really. You did my eyeliner perfectly. But I honestly don’t have time for a spa day. I’ve gotta go.”

  “Shhhttt!” Abbey silenced her with a quick wag of her finger. “None of that. You’re going to show me you can hold down food and drink or it’s back to bed for you. Don’t make me put a spell on you, Kare-bear. I’m warning you, I’m getting pretty damn good with the spells.”

  Kara groaned. “There’s like…seven billion people in the world and only four witchy hemispheres on the planet, so tell me—how did I end up with a high priestess for a best friend?”

  Abbey grinned. Of course she was as gorgeous and perfect as usual, her red hair coifed just so and her makeup runway ready. “I’d say you were just lucky, but Grammy D has an entire theory on it, including destiny and cosmic cross-species energy attracting its equivalent potency.”

  Kara chuckled. “I thought it was because I almost punched that bully in the nose for you in the fifth grade.”

  Abbey tugged a lock of Kara’s hair. “Yeah. That,
too.”

  “Okay, then let’s eat fast. I really need to get back to Mercury Island. Gavin’s giving final instructions to the men soon.”

  “He promised not to make a move without you. He needs you to feel better, Kara. And it sounds like you guys needed to give Julian a cooling-off period before you show up for the main Abysmal event. Besides, we’re going to use the reservations Jaxon and I already had at the Korean barbeque down the street. It’ll be faster than fast.”

  Ten minutes later, Kara’s stomach was growling like a mama bear defending her cubs, and Abbey was smiling across the table from Kara. “See! This is awesome. They bring out a selection of meats and veggies, and you get to cook it yourself.”

  “Uh-huh.” Kara stared at the sizzling hotplate in the middle of their table and had to force herself not to glare at her best friend. Abbey meant well, but a gourmet do-it-yourself dinner right now—with Julian burning holes in the Shadowland and Brakken on the verge of welcoming his grandson into the world? Seriously?

  “Look! Here it comes!” With Abbey’s defiantly chipper attitude, Kara would almost suspect that Gavin had asked her to keep Kara longer on purpose. She stopped and thought. Nah. After everything that had happened, he wouldn’t dare.

  The server set an assortment of raw meats and vegetables in platters around the table, then instructed them how to use the grill as she prepared fresh sauces. Kara was listening, but her gaze kept bouncing back to the thin slices of meat. She was so flippin’ hungry she could eat a horse.

  “Mmmm.” Abbey put a dollop of cooking oil on the grill and added a pile of squash and carrots. “The carrots take longer than the meat.”

  “Uh-huh.” Kara had stopped listening. She was eyeing the strips of steak like a thug eyeing a blue-haired woman toting the bingo jackpot.

  When Abbey reached to stir her vegetables and add sauce, Kara quickly speared a strip of meat and shoved it into her mouth.

  “Onions?” Abbey asked her.

  Kara just nodded, swallowing the meat whole.

  “You see,” Abbey continued, “the stuff that takes longer, like the really hard, dense veggies, you can move to the center where it’s hotter.”

  With superhuman speed, Kara stabbed a larger bite of the dripping red chunks and forked them into her mouth.

  “And the softer things, like the squash and broccoli, you can put on second or you can move it to a cooler spot on the cooktop.”

  “Yea-huh,” Kara grunted through a full mouth. She had little control over the speed of her hand, little control over the fact that she shouldn’t be moving like this in public.

  “And lastly,” Abbey said, “you add the meat. I ordered pork, beef and lamb, and you also get to decide which sauce you want on each and how spicy you—” Her words cut off as she glanced around the table at the empty bowls. “Where is the meat?”

  Kara swallowed and wiped her greasy mouth with the back of her hand. “I don’t know.”

  Abbey’s olive-green eyes went wide with indignation. “Did you eat all the meat, Kare-bear?”

  “Umm…”

  “Raw?”

  Kara glanced around the restaurant to make sure that no one was looking. “Maybe.”

  “What?” Abbey gasped. “That’s disgusting!”

  Kara’s face burned red hot. “I was hungry.”

  The rest of the meal was awkward. Abbey cooked the remaining vegetables and pushed them all onto her plate, as if punishing Kara for hoarding the protein portion of the meal. But by the end, she’d lost most of the fire in those eyes and was looking concerned again. Then her gaze suddenly zeroed in on something.

  “Kara!” she whispered frantically. “Your, you know—” she covertly pointed to her own mouth, “—are hanging out. What in the hell is going on with you? Are you sick?”

  Kara quickly closed her lips over the tips of her fangs and was about to rub her fingers over her eyelids, until she saw the pointy ends of her crystalline-red claws beginning to poke through her nail beds. “Someping da matta wipt me,” she said, trying to keep her lips folded over her fangs.

  “Oh my gosh. Let’s go.” Abbey threw three twenties on the table, and Kara shoved her hands into her pants pockets to hide her claws. They quickly made their way down 6th and rode the elevator back to Kara’s apartment.

  “Call Jaxon,” Abbey told her. “He’s waiting to take you to Mercury Island anyhow.”

  Kara wasn’t able to get her fangs to retract, but she wasn’t so worried about it here in the privacy of her own apartment. “Yeah, that’s perfect. I don’t want Gavin to think I’m too sick to travel to the Shadowland just because of a little fang malfunction.” Kara grasped her warrior-friend’s charm. “Jaxon?”

  Jaxon appeared a moment later—no shirt, covered in sweat, his chest heaving, with a rapidly healing cut above his left eye. “Yes? Are you ready?” And then he saw Abbey. “Oh, hello, dove.” And kissed her on the lips.

  Abbey shoved him hard. “Oh, no. Don’t you ‘hello dove’ me, mister! Just what are you up to on that island?”

  Jaxon sighed deeply through his nose, and his expression looked as guilty as sin. “I’m mounting every Demiáre female I can get my hands on. I’ve worked up quite a lather.”

  “Don’t you lie to me!” Abbey shot back. “You’re training in hand-to-hand for the battle, aren’t you?”

  “No,” Jaxon replied innocently, then he thrust his hips in a lewd gesture. “I’m bumping uglies. Bonking everything with a pulse.”

  Abbey did the best witch impression of a growl Kara had ever heard. “Kare-bear, promise me you’ll keep an eye on him. He knows how I feel about the battle. Going with you on a scavenger hunt is one thing. Getting his head lopped off is another.”

  Kara gasped. “And what about me and my head?”

  “Like Gavin and Evil-Julian are going to let anything happen to you. But who’s gonna be watching my boy’s back?”

  Jaxon grabbed Abbey by the shoulders and kissed her hard. “Have a little faith in me, Abbey.”

  “I do. You know I do. I just don’t want to lose you.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “All right. I trust you. Just save a little energy for me tonight, will you?” Abbey patted his backside. “Oh! And Kare-bear is being gross and gorging on raw meat. Plus she has a fang erection. Don’t tell Gavin, okay?”

  “Gorging?” Kara sputtered. “Those were the thinnest slices ever.”

  “Yeah, but there were three bowls of them.”

  Jaxon shook his head. “When it comes to excitement, life in a harem has nothing on sharing my life with you two.”

  Kara rolled her eyes, trying for the thirteenth time to retract her protrusions, both claws and canines. No such luck. “Let’s rock and roll. You can tell me about the training you’re not doing when we get there.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jaxon wrapped his arms securely around Kara and they flashed. Her feet hit the ground on Mercury Island, and her mouth kicked into motion. “So spill it. What’s your role in the battle?” He stopped and looked at her strangely. “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing, it’s just that you usually take a moment to get your bearings when we flash. I was worried earlier about traveling with you…but you seem to be doing strangely fine.”

  She shrugged. “I guess I am. I’m feeling pretty good, actually.”

  Jaxon and Kara began walking toward the training ground. Kara figured she’d find Gavin there, and she was right. It was crazy how the exercises had intensified as the months progressed. What had been simply practicing shields a few weeks ago was now a full-on assault on the shielded silver-wings, complete with weapons and other warriors’ gifts that Kara hadn’t seen utilized before today. It was almost like being in a real warzone.

  Kara caught sight of Gavin, but he had put aside hand-to-hand for something entirely different. At a glance, it looked like at least ten silver-wings, fully armed, were chasing him through the clearing, throwing spears, launchin
g arrows, whatever their skill was, and Gavin’s job seemed to be staying alive.

  “Why isn’t he fighting back?” she asked.

  “Gavine the Gruesome…” Jaxon murmured, and Kara recalled the name. She never used it and didn’t like the memories of Gable it stirred. “If Lord Gavin were launching the same attack, not one of those warriors would still be standing. He can’t afford to lose them to regeneration when the time of the battle is upon us.”

  As she watched Gavin’s effortless evasion and barely veiled savagery, Kara’s skin broke out in goose bumps. “Is he the strongest out there?”

  “He is by far the strongest and most gifted warrior on the island. I think his only competition would be the captain of the guard.”

  “Liel? But he seems like such a pushover.”

  Jaxon laughed. “I dare you to say that to his face.” He winked. “In pure weapons with no gifts utilized, Liel might be able to best Gavin, but when you take giftedness into account, it’s not even close.”

  “Wow.” Kara had known that Gavin was one of her father’s generals, but she’d never really thought about what a badass he’d have to be to get that job in the first place. “And Julian? Old Julian, I mean.”

  “Mind you, that was all before my time, but rumor has it that not only was Lord Julian an enthusiastic fighter, but his gift of calling the shadows was a game-changer.”

  “I saw it once. He was in a mating rage, and he made like…smoke come up from the ground. It felt…dark.”

  “It could kill a warrior from the inside out, head still intact, body shriveled to dust. Some even say it demolished their souls. I think the part about the souls was just hearsay and fear, but nobody could be sure.”

  “Oh.” Kara didn’t like to think of the old Julian in that light. In the short time they’d had together, he’d been all charm and zeal—the kind of guy that lit up a room when he walked in and made people smile. Definitely not a soul-sucker.

  “Of course, he couldn’t use the gift often. It took a terrible toll on him and left him weak until he recovered.”