by CJ Cooke
All of my mates bristled, and Grey looked like he was about to launch himself across the table at Davion.
“Whilst this is all very amusing, I’m not sure why you would think Calli could stand up against something that has wiped out forty-two of your clan members, Davion. Something that strong…” Sean trailed off, his forehead wrinkling in concern.
Davion’s eyes cast across to Cassia again, and his interest in her was starting to intrigue me. I knew his reputation, and I was about eighty percent sure it wasn’t just because he was hungry, but you never really knew with Davion. The word unpredictable just wasn’t strong enough to describe his personality.
Grey seemed to realise something before the rest of us did.
“The vampires have found themselves to be the prey for a change,” he smirked. It was a bit mean, even if it was true.
Davion’s upper lip curled, and a hiss escaped his mouth. I’d never seen him snap, but Davion’s temper tantrums were the stuff of legend, and we really didn’t need one happening right now. “Do not mock me, do not mock my loss. You think you know what it means to be afraid? To have something hunting you. But you know nothing. These things… they are nothing but nightmares wrapped in shadows. We have no defences against them. They just come… and they take. There is no escape once they latch onto your scent,” he spat. It was hard to tell if it was his anger or his grief that was riding him the hardest.
“Davion,” I said softly, drawing his attention to me, no matter how unwise that was when he was pissed off. “Tell me.”
He seemed to immediately soften, and a flash of pain crossed his eyes before he locked them back down. His clan was like his family. It was understandable this was a painful situation for him.
“We're being hunted,” he told me, looking me square in the eye like the rest of the table had just dropped away. Even so, he still hesitated before he added, “By wraiths.”
The impact he had expected fell flat as no one apart from Sean and Cassia knew what he was talking about. Cassia gasped in shock, and I heard a rumbling growl echo from Sean, but everyone else stayed silent.
“They could have followed you here, you fool,” Cassia gasped, frantically looking around the room like she was waiting for something to jump out and eat her. The rest of us joined her in looking, but we were doing it out of confusion rather than anything.
“When did this start?” Sean asked him.
“It’s hard to say. I think about a year ago. The clans don't talk much. We keep much to ourselves. Hunters mean that vampires go missing every so often and never come home,” his voice hitched momentarily. “I didn’t notice straight away, but then the missing started to grow in number. At first, I thought we had a hunter in the area, but then I started to hear whispers of other clans experiencing the same thing. It wasn’t until a wraith was spotted attacking another of our clan members that we realised the true extent of our problem. We did what we could, but nothing worked. In the end, we fled here, hoping that moving further from the other clans would slow the rate of our losses. When you first came to me for help, I truly did come out of allegiance to your parents. But then I felt your magic Calli. You’re strong. If there is to be any hope for my clan, I fear there is only you.”
The table fell quiet. Davion because he was waiting for an answer which was never going to come because I had no idea what he was talking about. And the rest of the pack, because they were just as in the dark as I was.
Tanner broke first. “What the fuck is a wraith?”
Davion looked like he was about to laugh, but when he saw looks of confusion on all of our faces, he sighed in resignation. Maybe he realised we weren’t going to be quite the army of saviours he expected us to be. He opened his mouth to speak, but Cassia cut him off and boy, was she pissed.
“Oh no, let me,” she said, her voice rising in anger. “Wraiths govern the passage of souls from our plane into death. When someone walks towards death but then is snatched away, it is the wraith you are cheating out of what is owed to them. The shadows that infect us are because we have been touched by wraiths as they attempted to guide us into death. They are a piece of them. If you draw their attention after you have returned to our plane, they will not stop hunting you until they have either reclaimed their shadow or they have taken back what is owed to them, namely your soul.”
By the time she ended, her voice was raised to the point she was nearly screaming at Davion, and I had no idea why she was so pissed. What she had explained kind of made sense, I suppose, and it sounded creepy as fuck.
“Okay,” I said gently, mainly because I didn’t want her to turn her anger onto me. “I can see why that would be a problem for the vampires, but I’m not sure I understand why you’re so angry about this.” I cringed as I said it, expecting that anger to be thrown right at me now.
Cassia, who had locked a death glare onto Davion, turned in my direction, but she wasn’t pissed when she looked at me. If anything, there were tears in her eyes, and I knew whatever she was going to say wasn’t going to be good.
“It doesn’t affect just the vampires. It affects all that are shadow touched. That includes me, and it includes every member of this pack you have pulled back from the edge of death, Calli.”
My eyes immediately snapped to Grey, and my body flooded with panic. I could not lose my mate to this. Grey had been so close to dying in that first witch attack on the pack. I’d seen him wavering on the edge of death, doubting I would be able to pull him back. That made him shadow touched. They would be coming for him. I was so consumed by worry for my mate that I didn’t have time to feel sorry for anyone else, and my brain had shut off from considering the even broader implications to the pack.
“It’s not just him, Calli,” Cassia told me quietly. “You’re an amazing healer. Possibly the strongest I’ve ever seen, and since you’ve been here, you’ve given that gift so selflessly.”
My eyes snapped to Nash as I realised that I’d saved him too. We all sat around the table in shock. Davion looked just as distraught as the rest of them.
“Did you lead them to us?” Grey asked. His voice was so calm, that in itself gave it a lethal edge.
“No, they're everywhere. In the past, there have been rare occasions when a vampire has caught the eye of a wraith, but as soon as they have claimed them, they leave. They never stick around. They can’t exist on our plane for extended periods. It’s different this time. This one is somehow stronger, and they have a legion of shadow demons with them. A whole clan was wiped out in New Orleans when the wraith moved in on the clan house with their army of shadow demons. They took the entire clan in moments.”
“You think it was summoned to specifically target the vampires?” Sean asked.
“I don’t know, and at this stage, I don’t really care. All I want to do is stop the fuckers from killing my family.” Davion seemed to finally be edging towards showing us his true feelings and letting his cocky exterior fall.
“If someone is targeting you, then they’re not going to stop until they’ve wiped you out,” Grey pointed out. “You won’t be able to stop the wraith no matter how hard you try because they’re just going to keep sending them.”
“I feel like I’m immediately about to regret this,” Tanner cut in, “but what the hell is a shadow demon.” His eyes were wide as he said the words, and we all pretty much looked like we felt the same way.
“When there is a traumatic, violent death, the energy from so much rage and death in one place leaves a scar as the spirit is torn from a person before their time. It is said that it is from that scar a shadow demon is born. It's pure rage, harnessed only by the will of whatever reaper came to collect the soul that passed through it.” Cassia’s voice almost seemed to echo around the room as she spoke, it had fallen that quiet.
“I was right. I do regret asking,” Tanner quipped.
“Davion, you must realise what you’re asking of us, of Calli, it seems pretty impossible,” Grey told him slowly.
> Davion nodded sadly. “But I have to try. My clan is my family. Like the pack is for you. There has to be something, anything that we can do. This isn’t just some war being waged against us from the shadows, it’s a massacre, a cull. ”
Nash cast a nervous glance across at me, and I nodded at him in encouragement. We needed to try and get along. We were in the same pack. I couldn’t have him afraid to even speak around me. Fucking hell! Was I going to have to be the adult here and try to settle things between us?
“Perhaps as a show of good faith, you could trade us some information?” Nash slowly suggested.
Davion bristled, and I almost cringed at the way it sounded. “Taking my depleted clan to invade a witch stronghold to rescue dear Calli wasn’t enough of a show of good faith for you?” Davion said, his cold voice dripping with the potential for violence.
“I think what the young wolf means,” Sean jumped in, “is that they appreciate everything you’ve done for them, but they’d like to ask for a small piece of information in addition to what you have already so graciously given.”
The look Sean gave Nash at that point was enough to make most people piss themselves. Nash, though, I had to give him his due, steeled his spine and gave no indication from the look on his face that he was going to back down.
“A man has been reported as missing in our town. He went to put the trash outside one evening and then disappeared. If you had any information that could assist us in locating him, we would be grateful. He’s a good friend to the pack.”
Davion got a calculating look in his eye. “A friend to the pack, you say?” He leant back in his chair, his hand coming to his chin like he was trying to think of what Nash could be talking about. He was so full of bullshit. He knew exactly what we meant, and I’d bet my life on it he knew something about what had happened to James from the way he was playing it.
“It wouldn’t look good if a clan moved to our town and upon arrival were responsible for the death of one of the pack’s close friends,” Grey almost growled at him.
This was like a pile of tinder sitting next to a volcano with a pyromaniac walking by—there was only one way it was going to go unless someone was going to intervene.
“Davion, any information you could provide would at least help us to give his family some peace. You know what it’s like to sit waiting for someone that might never come home.” It was a low blow, but I needed to de-escalate the tension somehow.
Davion looked at me with that now-familiar pain in his eyes, and he sighed in resignation. “A shadow demon attacked James,” he finally said. “We split up and travelled here separately, hoping to avoid bringing anything with us. One of my clan members was travelling through town towards our new clan house when he caught the scent of blood. A shadow demon had attacked James and left him in Maxwell’s path to try and lure him into a trap. Maxwell couldn’t leave him to die and was seriously hurt bringing James back to the clan house. By the time he got him to us, though, it was too late. We couldn’t save him. I gave James the same choice I gave all of my family, and he decided he wasn’t ready to die.”
Davion looked around the table. We all knew what it meant, but I wasn’t sure what the implications would be or even the process.
“I will need to meet with him to discuss his wishes,” Grey said sternly.
Davion’s head snapped in his direction. “I assure you, he decided of his own free will. I don't turn unwilling humans.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Grey said, raising his hands in peace. “I just want to know if he wants us to tell his wife or if he’s happy for her to keep thinking of him as missing, presuming that he’s dead. She deserves some kind of closure.” Grey added quietly.
Poor Mary, I couldn’t even imagine what she was going through at the moment. Humans didn’t mate like we did, but it was plain to anyone who saw them that they loved each other with their whole hearts. I couldn’t imagine being separated from one of my mates like that and not knowing if I would ever see them again. It would be the worst kind of hell. The bitter hope drawing out the pain that maybe, just maybe, there was some way they would come back to you.
Davion nodded thoughtfully. “She was his last thought before he began the process. You will not be able to speak with him for some time. The process of turning is long and painful. Not to mention the overwhelming hunger he will experience. He won’t be in his right mind for some time, I’m afraid. As soon as he's back in his own mind and the blood phasing has finished, I will speak with him for you.”
“I’ll want to talk to him myself,” Grey told him. It was clear the suspicion was there, even if he either didn’t want to or couldn’t admit it. Old prejudices die hard.
Davion just nodded. I suppose you get used to the suspicions and prejudice. The lazily veiled comments that were nothing but hate in disguise.
“They can promise you nothing, you realise this,” Sean added, bringing the conversation back to where it was probably supposed to be.
“All I ask is for you to try. I… I should’ve come to you differently, Calli. I know this now. I can see how like your mother you are. She would have been so proud of the woman you’ve become.”
I knew his words were said with kindness, but they were also too much. The pleasant platitudes people tell you, assuming they will bring you comfort, are the ones that sting the most. I didn’t need to be reminded every moment of my life that my parents were missing. It didn’t bring me comfort to know what others took for granted had been ripped away from me. The hole inside of me would never be filled with their empty praise. Deep down, I didn’t even think they said it to try and make me feel better, not if they truly looked inside themselves. They said it because my pain made them uncomfortable. After all, it was hard to look at, and it made them realise the fragility of their own lives.
“Thank you,” whispered out of me.
Maybe I was just as bad as they were. Sometimes I didn’t want to look at the pain either.
13
Grey
Calli’s pain rushed through our bond so quickly it almost took my breath away. Her face went completely blank, which was probably more telling than if she’d just burst into tears. River and Tanner shuffled uneasily, knowing that our mate was hurting too. We knew her well enough by now to know when something was wrong.
Davion made his excuses and left when we promised to start looking into their problem. Well, our problem, just one more to add to the list. The timing felt too coincidental to be unlinked to whatever fucked up craziness was going on in our world right now.
Sean cast a wary look at me before he pulled Calli into his arms, whispering something into her ear for only her to hear. She nodded distractedly and didn’t say much as he said goodnight, promising to check in with her in the morning.
I knew Sean was a trusted friend of her family, but something about him just didn’t sit right with me. The man seemed to be wrapped in so many secrets, I doubted anyone ever really saw his true face. I doubt he even remembered it himself.
The rest of the pack slowly made their excuses and went up to their respective rooms. I moved Calli into the living room and made her comfortable on the sofa while she sipped at the tea River quickly made her. It was like she was going through the motions automatically—not quite there any more. She was riding that wave of grief hard right now, lost to the memories and all of the crushing emotions they brought. It was hard to watch, but it was something she needed to do. There was no dealing with grief without letting yourself feel it first.
“I’m worried,” Tanner whispered as we moved out of the living room, keeping a wary eye on her through the doorway.
“She needs this,” River sighed, the full weight of his own pain behind it. “Calli holds it all together, pushing all her feelings aside to try and be strong for Jacob, for all of us really. She needs to have these moments. She needs to let herself feel. Otherwise, she’s never going to learn how to live with this.”
“Tomorrow, we need to sit
down and talk through how we’re going to support her. We let her take the burden too much today with the kids. We need to talk through how being a family is going to work and what that means for everyone in the pack.” Tanner encouraged, he was a good beta. His first instinct was always to stand by the pack and care for them. He never wanted to be an alpha. He never wanted to be in charge. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was happy.
“You’re right,” I agreed, quickly thinking through what we needed to do. “The garage opens back up tomorrow. River, can you sort the kids in the morning and get them to school? Tanner, you and Aidan open the garage up. We’re going to need either Blake or Nash to take Abby for a few hours. Let’s let Calli sleep in tomorrow. She’s going to be exhausted when she comes out the other side of this. I’ll stay with her until she’s ready to get up, and then tomorrow night, we can all come to the table with ideas on how we’re going to move forward.”
Tanner’s answering smirk was inevitable. “You sure you’re going to cope with that hard job of staying in bed with our beautiful mate all morning?”
“Hey, someone needs to do it, and it’s only fair that as alpha, I sacrifice myself,” I grinned.
River just shook his head, used to our banter by now.
“We also need to get Calli packed up and moved over here tomorrow,” River reminded me, and I could have slapped myself for forgetting. I was dropping the ball too much at the moment.
I nodded thoughtfully. “Tanner, after this meeting, you and I need to talk about the pack and where we go moving forward. There are too many threats, and we need to put some countermeasures in place.”
What those were going to be, I had no fucking idea. Never in our pack history did we have to pull together against a threat like this. Even my father’s pack hadn’t had these kinds of issues. Fuck! I didn’t know of any pack that had, which was suspicious in itself. How likely was it that our history was so rose-tinted? I’d never even suspected that what we were taught of our history was probably just a sugar-coated version. Not until now.