Born in the Shadows (In the Shadows Series Book 1) (31 page)

She felt sick at Anne’s words and she refused to believe them. She would prove her wrong. “I don’t care, I’m still going to try it.”

“Cordelia, no,” Mary said, grabbing her elbow and holding her in place. “When someone is this close to death, trying to change them will only cause them immense pain. It will do nothing to stop death.”

“Then fix him!” she screamed at Anne.

“I’m trying,” Anne replied calmly, completely unaffected by Cordelia’s tone, ever the dutiful physician. “I’ve set him up with a transfusion and I’m going to close the wound on his neck.”

Cordelia looked at the half-full IV bag that Demetri was squeezing, forcing the blood into Gabe’s veins as fast as possible. Even with the transfusion, Gabe was turning a sickly shade of grey. His chest barely rose with his shallow breaths and there was significant pause between each beep of the heart monitor. The spectre of death was hovering over him and there was nothing she could do to fight it off.

She took his hand in her own, squeezing it tightly as she watched him struggle to breathe. Anne brought out a surgical tray and sat down on Gabe’s other side, ready to stitch him up. Cordelia kept her eyes on Gabe’s face as Anne went to work, reaching out to his mind with her own, wanting to find him and speak to him.

As hard as she tried, she couldn’t get a solid fix on him, his mind a chaotic mess of emotions and sensations as it fought off death.  

…Please Gabe, keep fighting it. Stay with me…

“Shit.”

Anne’s unprecedented curse knocked her back into her body in time to hear all the monitors in the room start going off. She looked over to see fresh blood gushing from Gabe’s wound and Anne trying to stop it.

“His pressure is dropping,” Demetri called out to Anne.

“The arterial clamp slipped,” Anne said gravely, as she struggled to get the clamp back on. “Just keep pushing the blood in.”

Cordelia felt her throat close as the two of them worked and she sat there unable to help. God, if only he had listened to her. If only she had been faster or stronger. If only she had been smart enough to call the others sooner.

There were a hell of a lot
if onlys
she could go through but none of them would change what was happening. She was going to lose him.

As if on cue, the heart monitor went silent for a moment before the readout flat lined and a solid long beep pierced the air. Cordelia felt as if her heart had been ripped out as she stared at the flat green line that scrolled across the screen.

He was gone.

***

The silence in the front room was shattered with the arrival of his captors. Despite the sorry state of his body and mind, Remy’s preternatural hearing still worked just fine and their words were clear as day through the thick log walls.

“I can’t believe how easy it was,” Armand crowed, his voice jubilant. “They practically walked into my arms, begging me to destroy them.”

Dread curled in his belly at Armand’s words. What had he done and whom had he done it to?

“You killed both of them?” the sycophantic toady asked. God, Remy despised him. Despite all the torture he had suffered at the hands of Armand and his minions, it was Matthew that he had truly come to fear.

Armand was psychotic and lashed out randomly with little organization. Matthew was cool and calculated in his actions and words, his face never betraying what was going on in his head. Remy could deal with psychos but the nothingness that was inside Matthew unsettled him.

“The boy is dead. You should have seen her face! If she doesn’t have a complete mental breakdown, I’ll eat my hat.”

The chains creaked as Remy dropped his chin to his chest, his shoulders wanting to slump in defeat but the muscles had long since lost all feeling. He was devastated for the sister he didn’t know. To lose someone she cared about was tragic; to have that someone taken away at the hands of Armand was an abomination.

“We need to gather our followers so that I can tell them about my success.”

“Where do you want to meet them?”

“We’ll bring them here and we’ll kill the prisoner. Another blow to the clan tonight could destroy them all.”

The hazy veil that surrounded him was beginning to recede as the drugs coursing through his system wore off. Which meant Armand would come through that door at any moment, syringe in hand and he’d stick Remy and the world would disappear for a while.

Since this ordeal had begun, he had not been completely lucid, moving from complete unconsciousness to dazed and everywhere in between. All he wanted was one moment of complete clarity; if he had that, he knew he could figure a way out of his prison.

His one good eye on the door, he waited for Armand to come in. Instead, he listened as they alerted the rest of their followers, no one making a move to come in the room.

Here was the advantage he had been waiting for. It wouldn’t take long for the drugs to wear off completely, even in his weakened state. With a clear mind, he knew he could figure out a way to escape his chains. Then he would show Armand what pain truly was. 

He was going to take his time with him. After all, they had been so kind to provide an excellent torture chamber for him to use. And what delicious irony to have Armand suffer in the same place he had caused so much suffering.

Remy was going to make it hurt in ways even a sick fuck like Armand couldn’t imagine. He would avenge what had been done to his new sister. And most of all, he would avenge what had been done to him.

Chapter 19

The door to the exam room slammed back against the wall, the glass in the window shattering from the force of it and Cordelia stormed through the doorway. The air around her crackled with energy as she stalked away from the infirmary and headed for the stairs.

Mary followed close on her heels, the dangerous vibes she was throwing out doing nothing to deter her from reaching out and grabbing her arm.

“Cordelia, stop.”

She shook her off and kept going. She wasn’t ever going to stop, not as long as Armand was alive and Gabe wasn’t. When she had torn him limb from limb, when he bled his last drop of blood, that was when she would stop.

This time when Mary grabbed her she wasn’t gentle, slamming her face first into the wall and jerking her arm back and up until pain lanced through her. 

“I said, stop! Now you need to take a second to calm down.”

“He’s dead, Mary. How am I supposed to fucking calm down?”

“Because if you don’t you are going to end up dead too.”

“I don’t care!” she screamed, wrestling against Mary’s grip, not caring about the pain. It meant as little to her as her own life. All that mattered now was vengeance.

“Well I do care. Look, you want to kill Armand, fine by me. Hell, I’ll even give you the stake and hold him down for you. But to do that we need to find him and that means we need to take a second to think about where he could be.”

Mary’s rational words did nothing to calm the storm of emotions raging inside of her. Every animalistic instinct that had come alive in her when she became a Shadow Walker was now roaring for vengeance. Gabe was hers and it was her duty to destroy the one who had taken him from her. It was her fight, not theirs.

The door at the top of the stairs opened and Nicky came down the steps slowly, each movement deliberate as he kept cautious eyes on them.

“Please Cordelia, Mary is right. Let us help you,” he said his voice calm and reassuring as if he was approaching a spooked animal.

She knew it was a lost cause to fight them. They would not let up on her until she agreed to do as they wanted or Nicky compelled her. If he did that, she was screwed.

So she stopped struggling against Mary’s hold and Mary eased up on her arm. The sharp pain disappeared, replaced by a dull ache but Mary didn’t let go completely.

“You are right. We need to think about this,” Cordelia parroted, adding a resigned sigh for good measure. “Let’s sit down and talk about it.”

Her reasonable words worked and Mary released her, moving back to give her space. She pressed her head against the wall, taking a deep calming breath and shoring up her mental shields to keep them out before turning around the face them. She gave them both a contrite smile, trying to signal to them that she was under control now.

They seemed to buy it, the tension leaving their shoulders and she heard Nicky exhale the breath he had been holding. A twinge of guilt hit her at what she was going to do. Hopefully they would understand why it had to be this way.

“I’m sorry for lying,” Cordelia said before kicking Mary in the stomach, sending her flying in the opposite direction down the hall. Before Nicky could react, the row of fluorescent bulbs that lit the hall burst in a shower of sparks, plunging them into darkness.

Turns out that grief did a hell of number on the Shadow Walker system. Not only did it make certain powers a hell of a lot easier to access, it gave her the strength to punch a hole in the shroud around the manor.

Winds kicked up and in an instant Cordelia found herself standing in the woods, a simple wooden cabin half hidden among the trees. Though there was no way to see if there was any life within, she didn’t need to see Armand to know he was here.

There was a connection that drew her to him. It was what had guided her here when she had blindly shadow walked. The connection of her lover’s blood pumping through both of their hearts.

She palmed the knife that was still strapped to her side, testing its weight. It was small but she knew the torment that was tearing through her now would give her the strength to wield it with deadly accuracy.

She made her way to the cabin door, every heightened sense she possessed running in overdrive. She let the sounds of the woods fall away and focused on the low voices behind the cabin walls. She could smell the faint scent of fresh blood, sweet with the smell of sawdust and pine. It was Gabe’s blood, brought here on Armand’s lips.

A roaring filled her head and she rushed the cabin door, her shoulder slamming into the thick oak. It blew off its hinges, skidding across the plank floor before coming to a rest against the opposite wall. The room before her was empty of any occupants but the door to the other room was open and the two thugs who had held her captive emerged.

Perfect. They would be the appetizers before she got to the main course.

She launched herself at one of them, a spitting ball of fury that brought him down hard on his back. She reared up over him and plunged the knife into his heart, twisting the hilt in a full circle before pulling it out. Quick and efficient, he would be dead within seconds.

Before she could turn her attention away from her first victim, the other thug grabbed a fistful of her hair and hauled her up off the ground. An animalistic roar ripped from her lips as she struggled against the hold. A thick arm wrapped around her neck, trying to subdue her but she tore into the bulging flesh with her fangs, his vile blood flowing into her mouth.

Her attacker cried out in pain, releasing his hold on her and she slammed an elbow square into his chest. He stumbled back and hit the wall while she whipped around to face him, spitting out the putrid blood that tasted like ash on her tongue.

The male was stunned, the breath knocked out of him, and he was bleeding profusely from where she had bit him. He didn’t even react as she grabbed his head and slammed it hard against the wall, a sickening crack filling the cabin before he slumped to the floor. Cordelia took her knife from where it had fallen and pulled the same stab and turn action on his heart, delivering a fatal blow.

She rose to her feet, blood dripping from her hands and chin, her breath hissing like a snake through her fully extended fangs. She turned to the other room, finally getting a good look at what was in there.

A handful of males stood in the room, eyes wide as they stared at her, some completely dumbfounded and others rightfully terrified. Armand stood behind them, a large hunting blade in his hand. Next to him was the battered body of a male Shadow Walker suspended from the rafters by chains.

His body was littered with bloody cuts and burns, his face unrecognizable under the myriad of bruises but she knew that this poor creature had to be Remy. Though he was a stranger to her, her blood recognized him and it boiled with fury at seeing what had been done to him.

“I only want him,” she told the others, pointing to Armand. “The rest of you can leave.”

She would have been more than willing to tangle with any of the other Shadow Walkers but that would just delay getting her hands on Armand or worse, give him a chance to escape. Every cell in her body was screaming for revenge and she would delay it no longer.

While Armand might have gotten brute strength in his lackeys, they didn’t have much in the way of loyalty. They nearly trampled over each other to get away, using their enhanced speed to disappear out of the cabin in an instant. 

She ignored them, her eyes never leaving Armand. For the first time, she saw panic on his face as he watched his followers abandon him. Only one remained, the one who had been his second all those weeks ago at Roxy, but he did not step forward to defend his leader. Instead he stayed in the corner, his eyes moving back and forth between her and Armand, as if he was just waiting for the show to start. 

Armand was quick to hide his panic, his face transforming into a sneering smile and he even added a careless chuckle for effect.

“As always, a pleasure to see you again, fledgling,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

“I’m going to end you,” she hissed at him.

“Promises, promises,” Armand chirped, smiling gleefully as he gripped the knife tightly in his palm.

Armand made the first move, launching himself at her but she stood her ground. When he was within reach, she grabbed his wrist, twisting it and using his own momentum to snap the delicate bones. The knife dropped from his now useless hand as he screamed in agony.

Despite the injury, he kept his footing and lashed out with a fierce sidekick to her ribs that sent her flying into the tables, scattering tools everywhere. She shook her head, momentarily dazed as a tight band wrapped around her lungs, her cracked ribs protesting with each breath she took. She did her best to ignore the pain, letting the rage inside her take over.

She gripped the table edge tightly and twisted herself around, flinging the heavy piece of furniture in Armand’s direction. He tried to dodge it but a corner clipped his shoulder, sending him spinning in the air before hitting the ground. She grabbed the knife from where it had fallen and fell down upon him, wrapping one hand around his throat.

An ugly smile spread across his face as he looked up at her. This close to him, she saw he still had streaks of Gabe’s blood on his face. She squeezed his throat tighter but he just kept smiling.

“You felt it the moment it happened, didn’t you?” he croaked out. “I know I did. When his heart stopped beating, it was like music to my ears. Did you hear it?”

She turned the knife around and slammed the hilt of it into Armand’s face, wanting to shut him up. He cried out in pain but it soon turned into stuttered laughter and he continued to taunt her.

“Maybe you didn’t hear it. After all, I’ve got a hell of a lot more of his blood in me than you do, don’t I? Here, taste it.”

With that, he spat the blood that had filled his mouth in her face, momentarily blinding her. He kicked her off him, rolling to his side and scrambling to his feet as she wiped the blood from her eyes.

Cordelia got to her own feet as Armand used his good hand to heft up a ball-peen hammer that had fallen to the ground.

He swung the weapon but she dodged it, ducking down and landed a punishing hit to his injured wrist. The pain dropped Armand to his knees and the hammer fell from his good hand. She dove for the weapon before Armand could regroup, her hand gripping the handle firmly and she swung it in a wide arc.

A sickening crunch sounded as she drove the hammer into the back of Armand’s skull. He dropped to the ground face first, his body twitching frantically as if every circuit in his brain was firing at once. She stood poised with her knife to deliver more damage but his body gave one great shudder before going still.

She looked over to where Matthew still stood in the corner, their eyes meeting. His expression was unreadable, his eyes void of anything resembling emotion. He simply bowed his head in respect to her and before she could make a move, he fled the cabin in a flash.

She was prepared to follow him but from behind her, Remy groaned painfully and her attention went to her injured brother. She studied the pulley system that had him strung up, following the path of the chains to determine how to get him down.

“You have to get the heart,” Remy rasped, his voice hoarse. “He’s not dead until you destroy the heart.”

“I know,” she said as she released the mechanism that locked the chains in place. With a steady hand-over-hand motion, she lowered Remy to the floor. “I have no intention of letting him die just yet.”

As Remy knelt on the floor before her, she looked over the hooks in his shoulders. They looked painful but she figured the best way to handle this was quick and efficient with a little distraction.

“He killed the man I love and he is going to suffer for it. I’m going to put him in this rig and I’m going to torture him,” she told him, gripping a hook in each hand. “And you’re going to help me.”

She pulled the hooks out clean, Remy screaming in agony before curling up in the fetal position, his body shaking as he whimpered softly. She let him ride it out in his own way, afraid to lay a hand on him even in comfort.

His skin was a roadmap of torture and she worried that any pressure on it would cause him even more pain. The trembling eventually eased and Remy seemed to relax slightly before his one good eye opened, blinking a few times before he focused on her face.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice filled with such gratitude, she wanted to weep. But before she could respond, she saw his eye focus on something over her shoulder and then widen.

Before she could turn around, she was pulled off her feet, the room spinning around her before she was slammed onto her back hard, black spots blooming in her vision. The next thing she knew, Armand was on top of her.

Blood poured from the wound on his head, his eyes black voids, fangs fully extended and dripping blood and gore as he snarled. He hauled back and headbutted her, causing her eyes to roll back into her head. She fought hard against the wave of darkness that tried to take her under. She couldn’t let him get any advantage over her.

Her sense of self-preservation took over and she reared up to bite down on the only piece of Armand she could reach: his nose. Blood spurted and he roared in pain, which let her get the leverage she needed to turn the tables on him.