Darkest Whispers (Eternal Shadows Book 2)

by Kate Martin

  “You’re quicker than I gave you credit for,” she said.

  “I’m a lot of things.” I dove for her legs, avoiding her chain, and sinking my dagger into her thigh as we both went to the floor again. The gold burned, and she cursed, slamming her chain-enhanced fist against my head. I saw stars, then blackness. When my vision returned, I was on my back, and Katya sat on top of me, one hand around my throat, the other poised above my heart.

  “Oh good,” she said. “Welcome back. I want you to be aware of this happening. I want to watch the light go out. Feel free to struggle.”

  I had to do something. I couldn’t drag this out any longer. Katya was older and far more experienced than me. In the end, she would overpower me, she would win.

  But I had more to lose. I could see Rhys, pale and hurt, hanging helplessly in the chains. He struggled in his bonds, but hadn’t enough strength to get free. I couldn’t let him watch me die.

  Katya’s fingers began to dig into my chest. Slowly. The hand around my throat held me only tight enough to keep me pinned. I had enough air to scream, which was what she wanted. So I did. Satisfied, she pressed her hand further into my chest, reaching for my heart at an agonizing pace.

  Under my right hand, I felt familiar leather and metal, and wrapped my fingers around it, dragging it across the stone floor, the sound masked by my screams. Blood welled under her hand.

  I slammed my dagger into her hand, and it bit into my own chest, binding us together with steel and gold. Katya added her own screams to mine, and it was music to my ears, but the distraction wouldn’t last long. I thrust my hand against her chest, my fingers pushing through flesh and bone. I wrapped my hand around the hard, still muscle hidden beneath, and squeezed once, forcing it to beat. Her eyes widened, and I tore it free.

  I watched the light go out.

  “Kassandra.”

  His voice washed away the fog of battle from my brain. I breathed again, wrenched the dagger free, and pushed the still warden off me. Her dead weight tumbled to the side, and I scrambled away from the corpse, dropping the heart in my hand and turning away before I could really look at it. Whatever part of me had let me do that—the monster—was gone. I was me again, and I rushed to Rhys, taking his face in my hands and kissing him, just to assure myself he was real.

  He was.

  I reached for the chains, but found them locked and unbreakable.

  “There,” he said, his voice so quiet and weak. “There are keys on the table by the door.”

  I don’t remember getting the keys, but I do remember the sound of each cuff as they unlocked. I freed his hand, and helped him to kneel on the floor before unchaining his legs.

  “My arm,” he said, shuddering and clutching his shoulder where it bled freely. “Give me my arm.”

  I would have nightmares about my next action for weeks. I unlocked the cuff around his dismembered limb and brought it to him. He tried to take it, to press it to his shoulder where it could reconnect, but his hand shook too hard. I had to do it. I put my whole body into holding it in place, leaning into him, and trying to will him back into one piece. We knelt there like that, both breathing hard, both unable to speak. He touched my face, fingers knocking clumsily against my cheek.

  I tilted my head to the side, exposing my neck. “You need blood.”

  To my great, but also grateful, surprise, he didn’t argue. His fangs sank into my neck and he drank. So different from when Malachi had tried to drain me. When Rhys drank from me it felt—blissful.

  A strange creeping sound caused me to pull away, and I stared as I could see the fibers of Rhys’s body knitting back together at his shoulder. He didn’t try to drink again, just rested his head on my shoulder, breathing.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said finally. Going to his good side, I lifted Rhys from the floor and let him lean on me. He weighed far more than I ever would have imagined. “Cade is upstairs. Alone.”

  “And he sent you down here?”

  “Someone had to get you while he fought off the guards. He may need help.”

  Rhys made a sound that at first worried me, before I realized it was weak laughter. “If you think he needs help, then there are a few things more you should know about Cade.”

  Against all odds we made it up the stairs to the main level. Getting up was harder than going down. More than once I was forced to literally throw Rhys across the gaping holes in the floor. I’d never been so glad for all Cade’s training. When we reached the top, I stopped to listen before proceeding—and heard nothing. Cautiously, we stepped out into the main hall.

  Cade stood by the desk, covered from head to toe in blood. The two vampires he had been fighting smoldered on the floor, burning away along with the first he had killed. Somewhere along the line another three had joined them. Extra guards. How the hell had he survived?

  He turned to face us, fitting his right hand back on his wrist where it instantly reattached without so much as a scar. He rotated the appendage, checking its mobility, then looked straight at me. “Took you long enough.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’ll have you know I killed one vampire all by myself—one you apparently let come after me—and incapacitated another. I think I get an A on the test.”

  He smiled smugly. Damn satisfied bastard.

  “Cade, what did you do to her?” Rhys asked as Cade approached us, taking Rhys’s weight from me and supporting him instead.

  “Do to her? I kept her alive.”

  “She’s hurt.”

  “She’s not dead.”

  I glanced down at myself at their words. Bruises, cuts, claw marks, they had all gone largely unnoticed until just then. My body seemed to explode with pain, and my broken hand throbbed.

  “Katya is dead,” I said, wondering at the same time why that was my first thought. “I tore out her heart.”

  Cade nodded, then headed towards the door. “Let’s get Rhys outside. I’ll make sure she’s burned.”

  He did just that, sitting Rhys in the cool grass, before going back inside the prison. I sat beside Rhys as he lay down, leaning over him and kissing him again.

  His eyes were closed when I finally stopped. “What happened?” he asked.

  The question hung on the air a moment, before I realized he had no idea what had transpired tonight. “We proved your innocence. But Cordoba is a traitor. He was supposed to order you set free. Instead he ordered all this. When we figured it out, the General fought him. Cade says the whole Council was fighting each other. They were still fighting when Cade and I rushed here.”

  “He’s really turned you into quite the soldier, hasn’t he?”

  “Seems so.” I had a list of things I had killed that grew longer all the time. I had to think of them that way; as things. “I was kinda annoyed by it, but after tonight…”

  Rhys said nothing, though it was an understanding silence. A grateful one. I watched him, stroked his arms and his face, soothing him and myself. So many scars. Burns all along his arms and chest. I memorized each one, and hoped there would never be more.

  He drew in a deep breath before speaking again. “I really didn’t kill that woman? I’m innocent?”

  “Very, very innocent.” I kissed the corner of his mouth. “It was another vampire. Someone named Thera.”

  He opened his eyes. “That’s Solo’s sire.”

  “Yes.”

  His expression turned a bit sour. “The stray is responsible for this discovery?”

  “Yes.”

  “We owe him?”

  Somehow, I laughed lightly. “Maybe a little.”

  Cade reemerged from Infragilis then, serious as ever. I didn’t want to know what he had done to finish the job. “Come on,” he said, lifting Rhys from the ground easily. “Home and blood is what you need.”

  Rhys didn’t argue.

  “What about the General? And Aurelia?” We had left them in the middle of a fight worse than ours. All the oldest vampires in the world, at each other’s thro
ats. Literally.

  “They’ll meet us at home.”

  He sounded so confident, I didn’t question him.

  Chapter Twenty-nine: For Now

  “Heads up!”

  The whizzing on the air came just in time for me to step back and watch the soccer ball fly right past my nose. From years of gym class training, I threw my hands up in front of my face anyway. The protective instincts born of a life time of sports equipment to the face was not easily unlearned.

  Sara laughed, jogging to my side. “Now I know for sure you’ve changed,” she said, cryptically so no one passing by would know what she really meant. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you dodge a ball ever.” The kids playing the hazardous soccer game ran past us, chasing after their precious ball.

  “Small favors and silver linings, right?” I held her coffee for her while she put her wallet away after paying the park vendor. She’d worn a light scarf and jacket to guard against the early autumn air, and I’d done much the same, even though the cold didn’t really bother me. The heat from her cup crept up my arm, warm and delicious, much like just after I fed. That thought made my fangs drop a bit, and I snapped my mouth shut.

  Sara took the coffee back from me and we started walking. “It’s so weird,” she said.

  “What is?”

  “So much is different, yet you’re still the same.”

  “I’m glad you think so.” This was the first time we’d hung out since the incident at the swimming pool, and though things had been a bit tense and awkward at first, after only a few minutes we had slipped back into the easy banter and comfortable habits of old friends. Thank god I had her back.

  “So how are classes?”

  “Pretty good. Midterms are in two weeks.” Sara sipped her coffee, making a contented sound. “But I’ll be glad to have this semester behind me.”

  “Any luck convincing your parents to let you go somewhere else?”

  “No, they still want me close. With everything that’s happened, I can’t say I blame them. But it’s not so bad. You’re here too, so,” she let the thought trail off.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to keep the uncertainty from my voice. “I’m here.”

  Thing was, I didn’t know how much longer I would be able to stay. No one knew what the next day would bring, and the General had put us all on alert. We needed to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, no questions asked. The Council was broken. Cordoba worked with the VFO, along with Osgar and Nadia. Tyrus had been killed during the fight, has had Aldric. I kind of felt bad for Tyrus, despite all he had put me and my family through over the last couple of months. After everything he did, trying to get justice for Lydia, being manipulated by Cordoba and the others, and he ended up dead. He had deserved better. Aldric, on the other hand, wouldn’t be much missed. No one was fessing up to having been the one to kill him. The matter had been of some debate, whispered among those of us within the house. Aurelia would have his seat now, if the Council ever convened again. She was pleased about that, but furious at the same time. She’d cursed the old vampire for dying and giving up his post just in time for the Council to become tattered and nearly obsolete. The fabric of vampire society had begun to fray. I had a bag packed and shoved under my bed.

  We walked back along the main streets, and I contented myself with the absolute ease I could see in Sara’s every step. She felt safe. And safe because of me, not in spite of me. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, and she knew it.

  I dropped her off at her house, hugging her and hoping it wouldn’t be the last time, promising that we would meet up again in a day or so. I’d just crossed the street, passing by the spot where I had once sat and watched Sara’s window in the dark when I caught wind of the unmistakable scent of lightening and dog. How fitting.

  “What do you want, Solo?”

  He appeared from between two houses, his dog loping about at his heels. He looked better than he had the last time I had seen him. The strain was gone from his face, and his eyes sparkled once more. “We never really got to talk after everything that happened.”

  “That’s because you took off in all the confusion.” By the time the Council had finished fighting each other, and anyone had thought to look for the stray, Solo was long gone.

  “I couldn’t hang around there. I couldn’t risk it. That mind reader could know what I am now.”

  “And yet here you are. Talking to me. Aren’t you worried my family will see you?”

  “I don’t plan on hanging around very long.” He stopped, standing directly in front of me, hands shoved in his jean pockets, looking every bit the rebellious teenage boy.

  “Then I guess we’re back to my original question. What do you want?”

  “How’s Rhys?”

  “What?” I didn’t think I had suffered any hearing loss in the whole mess at Infragilis, but surely I had heard him wrong.

  “How’s Rhys?”

  Apparently not.

  “He’s much better, but the recovery will take some time. All that gold exposure and lack of blood took its toll.” But oh, how pleased Olivia had been to be so needed once again, especially those first few days. I’d practically needed a crowbar to remove her when I wanted alone time. Thankfully, she did seem genuinely interested in Warren’s company as well, and so he had been a big help in distracting her. However, the thought of them together still weirded me out.

  Much like Solo caring about how Rhys was doing weirded me out.

  “That’s good,” he said, sounding at least half sincere. He took his hands out of his pockets, then shoved them back in, then took one out again to pet Buddy behind the ears. All of this done while avoiding eye contact with me.

  “Come on, Solo. What’s up? Why are you acting so weird?”

  “I have something for you, but I’m not sure how you’ll react.”

  “What is it?”

  “Eh . . .”

  “I can’t tell you how I’m going to react without knowing what it is. Or, you can skip my reaction all together and keep it to yourself.”

  “Not curious about it?”

  “Well, sure, but not enough to nag you about it.”

  He reached around to his back pocket and pulled out a small cloth bag, which he then offered to me. It looked like the kind of thing jewelry was kept in.

  “You had better not be proposing to me.”

  That lopsided grin was back. “Nope. Learned my lesson the first time I proposed to you. Next time I do, you’ll know.”

  I had the memory suddenly, unlike all the others. It was just there, something I remembered, the same as I remembered anything else from my life. Armand Bontecou had appeared at Jacqueline’s door one day, a priest at his side. Jacqueline’d had no idea why. Apparently Armand had given what he thought was an obvious proposal two days prior—a statement that amounted to him expressing his fondness for my former self, and the benefits of their common interests. Needless to say, Jacqueline had married him anyway.

  Here in the present, I rolled my eyes. “We’ll see about that. Historically you are terrible at proposals.”

  “At least I make a memorable impression.”

  I snatched the tiny bag from his hand and opened it, letting whatever lay inside fall onto my palm. A silver band, a ring, with a single diamond embedded in the metal.

  Again I remembered. Jacqueline’s wedding ring.

  “This is you not proposing?”

  Solo held up his hands. “No proposal, I swear. I just thought you might want it. It is yours after all.”

  “And how did you come by it?”

  “Family heirloom.”

  “Still a Bontecou?”

  “Guilty. Most hunters are reborn into their family lines. It’s not uncommon.”

  “Maybe not, but most don’t become vampires and remember being their own great-great-great-grandfather.”

  “It is uncomfortable at times. And I think you may need a few more greats in there, but I often lose track.”


  I traced the edge of the ring with a finger, surprised at how familiar it seemed, even though I hadn’t remembered it until just now. The diamond caught the sunlight, and I remembered it doing the same as I walked the gardens with my children . . . weird.

  “Well, thanks,” I said, preparing to put it back in the protective bag.

  Solo’s hand stilled mine. His skin was warm, alive, and I could have sworn a pulse lingered at his wrist, but maybe I had imagined it. “There’s one more thing you should see. Inside. There’s an inscription.”

  With a skeptical glance at him first, I turned the ring and peered at the underside, searching for the hidden words. They had been placed opposite the diamond, and once I got the glare of the sun out of my eyes, I could read them.

  Loyalty and Fidelity, in this life and the next.

  The hunter’s crest punctuated the end.

  “I still mean that,” Solo said, “even if we’re not what we used to be. You have my loyalty, and I hope you’ll trust me.”

  “You don’t even know me now. Look what I did. I used you to save someone else. I hurt you.” More than once I had woken in the night, haunted by his screams. Screams I regretted, yet would never trade back. I’d heard Rhys’s screams as well that day. What I really wanted, was a world where I never had to hear those sounds again, where I didn’t have to make choices that resulted in them.

  “You had your reasons. I don’t hold it against you. And don’t forget, I volunteered. I could have kept all that information to myself.”

  “I still wish you hadn’t had to go through that. I wish none of it had ever happened.”

  “We have the unfortunate privilege of living in this time, Kass. I have a feeling we have yet to see the worst.”

  “A ray of sunshine, that’s what you are.”