Of Shadow Born (16 page)

"What?" She t
urned her head just enough to look at him. He caught a glimpse of wide, frightened eyes. "I'm not leaving you."

He bit back a groan. "Now's not the time to get stubborn, Melanie. The goal is to get us both out in one piece. That means I call the shots and you do what I say." She flinched in his grip and held her breath, but didn't protest again. She was trying to behave, at least. He'd give her credit for that. "You want to chew me a new one for it later, I'll sit pretty and try not to cry, but for now—"

"I got it." She spoke through her teeth. "You're the boss, boss."

Kade studied the clearing where they'd stopped, a small open space at the heart of a network of paths that branched off in all directions. Traffic passed on a side street to their right. If she could make it there, into the public eye, she'd be safe, he reasoned. The rancor must have a master and that master would want to keep them out of sight.

So he turned with her, pointing her toward the distant cars as he put his mouth by her ear. "On the count of three." He felt her tense again. "I'll be right behind you. Two. Three!"

Melanie pushed away from him the instant he let go. He didn't watch her as she raced away. His attention stayed on the beast
, which startled at the sprint, feathers mantling. Its pupils spun down to pinpricks then widened again and it surged forward.

Only to skid to a halt when Kade got in its way. "Not her. Not now, not ever. Not without going through me."

The rancor tilted its head again, eyes refocusing. It took a step toward him and paused, lifting one paw, the better to display the wicked-looking claws that slid from the ends of its toes.

Kade ground his teeth. "Yeah, yeah, I see them." The longer he distracted the thing, the better the chance Melanie
would get away. He heard her running footfalls fading away. A few more seconds and it wouldn't matter whether it charged or not. She'd be in the clear.

Something about his body language must have reminded the beast its prey was escaping. It jerked as if someone had prodded its flank, then moved sideways, peering past Kade's body. It opened its beak.

The sound it made had no place in this world. High-pitched and blood-curdling, Kade clapped his hands to his ears to block out the sound. In the same moment, the monster charged him, every bit as swift and deadly as he'd warned Melanie. It lashed out with a paw full of daggers and slashed through the air where his knees should have been if he hadn't moved. It grunted and barreled for him, muscle bunching and shifting as it launched off the ground.

Kade caught it when it
crashed into him at chest height, hind feet scrabbling for a purchase in flesh and finding none. He went over backward, using its momentum to roll them both. It twisted beneath him and rolled to its stomach. He wound his arms around its neck and pried up, hoping that his arm would not slip out from under the beak. The thing could take a hand off. It would tear off his arm if it could.

In his struggle, he nearly missed the shrill cry of a second beast.

Chapter Fourteen

She was nearly there. Nearly out of harm's way. She hadn't looked back and wouldn't until she stood in the open, just as Kade said. She heard the sounds of struggle behind her, but kept running. Forward, always forward. There'd be time to see what had happened once she was safe. A few more strides, another few yards…

Something shrieked behind her. It had to be the monster. If Kade could make a sound like that, she didn't want to know why or how. Her heart pounded harder, as if
it might burst free of her chest. She dug in with her heels, pushing for one last burst of speed. One final sprint to freedom.

A shape exploded from a bush beside the path, hurtling into Melanie's side and knocking her into
a tree. It was still thrashing when they crashed to the ground. She had just enough time to twist out of the way before its beak plunged into the earth by her ear.
Another rancor
!

Or was it the same one? "Kade?" She heard the fear in her voice and willed it away. Now wasn't the time to fall apart and
need rescuing after all. She'd managed this long on her own, she could handle another few minutes.

Of course, living alone wasn't quite the same as wrestling a creature that couldn't exist and desperately wanted to do her injury. The bird-cat-beast writhed atop her and growled, paws
carving grooves in the ground as it reared back in preparation for another stab.
"Kade
!
"

She heard him swear by way of answer and the sound of his voice leeched
her panic away long enough, at least, for her to act instead of freezing where she lay. She got her hands on the creature's neck and locked her elbows. The thing was stronger than it looked. She ground her teeth and concentrated on keeping its head away from hers.

Movement at the edge of her vision
had her bracing for another attack. When she turned her head, though, and spotted Kade locked in a surreal dance with the other rancor, she felt a little better despite the dire situation. He had caught his beast beneath the front paws as it faced away from him, legs flailing wildly. It bucked and struggled in his grip, but his attention wasn't on the monster. He stared hard at her, his gaze almost a physical thing.

"Invisible
!" he shouted. "Think see-through!"

"See-through? What does
that
mean?" But Kade was gone again. Still, he hadn't just left her there to fend on her own as evidenced by his grunts, the rancor's hisses and the sound of fighting. He didn't answer. She'd have to figure it out for herself.

The thing continued to struggle against her hold, choking itself as it pressed
its neck into her hands. It coughed and wheezed even as it strained to reach her. It shifted its not-inconsiderable weight and cotton tore as easily as paper, the fabric of her blouse snagged by a claw. The cool, hard surface of the wicked talon grazed her skin without drawing blood. Too close for comfort. The mythological creation was all too real.

And she could no more turn invisible than she could sink into the ground. Except Kade had touched her and allowed a bullet to pass through her body without hurting her at all. If that was the sort of invisible he meant
...

The rancor hissed again. It cocked its head and fixed an angry golden eye on her. The pupil shuttered open and narrowed again, as if it needed to focus to be certain of where it would strike. Its tail thumped impatiently against her knee.

Melanie crushed her eyes shut.
Invisible
. If she couldn't see the beast, then somehow in this suddenly crazy world, it had to follow it shouldn't be able see her either. She just had to find a way to make being unseen real.

She thought of air. She thought of being hollow. She imagined her fingers on the bird-like neck passing through feathers
to flesh and bone. She struggled to keep that image in her mind. No gore, no guts, just her hand breezing through what now seemed solid. She fought against the wave of panic rising up to meet her with each breath. If it didn't work, she might lose a finger. An eye. She could lose her life.

Not going to happen. Not tonight. Not while she could still hear Kade wrestling with his own problems. The odds were stacked against her, but she could still beat them. She squeezed her eyes tighter. She willed herself to ignore the killer above her and its fetid breath. She reached deep, searching for some magic switch that would make her disappear.

She remembered the knot coiled low and tight in her stomach. As if she could actually touch it with a thought, a chill unfurled from that spot, sweeping over and through her like fog on a January night. Goosebumps lifted on her arms. She shivered hard and exhaled, nothing more than a hiss of sound. In her mind's eye, her breath left her body as a stream of silver mist.

The rancor struck at last. Melanie felt its beak pierce her skin and braced herself against pain. She'd failed. She must have failed. Kade's name was on her lips. If she could call out
, if he could help her, he would. He'd get there. She opened her eyes to search for him before it was too late.

The world had all turned black and white. The trees above her were dark, spectral shapes blotting out a hazy gray sky. They moved as if a breeze stirred them, but she couldn't feel it on her skin. She couldn't feel anything, she realized. Not her heart beating, not the monster that
pinned her down.

She couldn't see it. The beast that had attacked her, pushed its beak into her skin, was gone. Panicked, she sat up, knowing that any moment it
could return and finish what it started. Something must have scared it off. Maybe she'd passed out and was dreaming now.

A new m
ovement caught her attention. A shadow within shadow hurtled toward her. Maybe the monster had plucked out an eye and this was how her brain readjusted, throwing everything into grayscale. She climbed to her feet. Ready. She had to be ready for whatever charged her way.

She found herself caught in a bear-like hug and staring into Kade's broad features. His mouth moved but she heard no sound. A dream. A nightmare. Something.

Then all at once, sound returned, a roar like wind in her ears, then Kade's familiar voice, thick with relief. "...did it," he finished and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "You did it, Melanie. You're safe."

Safe. The word echoed through her and, for a moment, she believed in it. She
felt
safe standing here with Kade's arms around her. When the moment passed, she remembered she'd closed her eyes, pushed, and landed somewhere Else.

She
looked harder at the world around them. The color still hadn't returned, not completely or in the depth and range of shades she expected. There were hints of it, here and there. She lifted her hand and saw a hint of pink beneath shadowed skin. The trees still hung on to a slight tinge of green, but there it stopped. The sky was gray, the ground pitch black and the rest of the world fell somewhere in between.

As safe places went, it was not quite paradise.

"Where are we?" She took a step back and he let go. "This isn't the park. I mean, it must be, but it didn't look like this." She let her gaze wander the clearing. "What did I do?"

"This is Shadow," he answered. "We're standing...between. It's a place between places. Behind the veil, a different plane, whatever's easiest to understand.
You went sideways," he explained. "Guess that proves your blood once and for all. Takes one of us to make that slide."

"So the
rancors...?"

"
Have to be summoned back to this side. Someone can open a pathway to the real world and let them pass through, but they can't do it on their own. You're safe," he said again, "but we're not staying here."

Relief thrummed through her. "Good. I kind of like the Technicolor world." Right now, her boring apartment with its
solid walls and boring furniture sounded good. She wanted to go home.

She let Kade lead the way. There was no telling where they'd end up if she tried to navigate the shadow
s. She could recognize the usual landmarks, proving they were headed in the right direction, but they had all changed somehow. The buildings were less substantial from this side. Windows that had always just been empty now seemed menacing as if they took note of Melanie's progress.

Kade didn't falter, despite the fact he kept her hand in his and shortened his steps to match her stride. She stayed with him, more or less shoulder-to-shoulder. If she slowed down, he did as well. They didn't speak, but nothing needed to be said.

It was only when they reached the apartment and had ghosted up the stairs that she balked at all. Melanie stopped at the door, frozen mid-reach for the doorknob. She curled her fingers against her palm and let her hand fall.

"I wouldn't be able to open it, would I?" She didn't look at Kade to see his response. "Can we go back? Can we step sideways again? I don't think I want to know what
this side of my apartment looks like."

"If you want," he said, a little hesitantly. His hand
now rested at the small of her back, but she couldn't be sure if she actually felt heat radiating from him or if she'd just imagined it to remind herself they were still real. "I'll take a look, make sure we're okay. Don't want to step out of nothing in front of your neighbors."

She startled. "Out of nothing. I didn't think." She looked around the landing now. Doors and corners, but none of the floor's other residents, thank God. Kade moved away a few steps and Melanie hugged herself. She wanted to lean against a wall, let her spine bow and shoulders sag, but she wasn't sure she wouldn't simply drift through and that would steal the little bit of self-control she still had.

"Take my hand." Kade's voice surprised her again, low and closer than she expected. She glanced up at him, summoned a smile and slid her hand into his as he asked. Odd how the simple touch made her feel better, as if she was borrowing his strength.

He pulled her against his side, transferring her hand to his other. His now-freed arm slid around her waist. "We'll go on three. One. Two."

Color bled into the world like watching paint flow back into an artist's work. Warmth returned with her other senses and another shiver rippled through her. Kade held her closer and she didn't complain. They walked through her front door together as they'd done half a dozen times already. Like nothing in the world could be wrong or different in any way.

Peace was short-lived.

"You need to pack a bag," Kade told her. "Whatever you need for the next couple weeks."

"Weeks." Melanie stopped where she stood. "What do you mean, weeks? I have a job. I have a life. I can't just put all that on hold."

"You don't have to," he agreed matter-of-factly. "It's been done for you. You've got the time off at work. Will have until someone figures out what happened. Think of it as a sudden vacation."

She frowned. "People don't tend to die when I'm
on vacation."

"And they shouldn't. We're not trying to make a habit of this."
Kade smirked. "But you've been handed the opportunity to get away for a while and you're taking it. Pack a bag."

She could stubborn it out, she knew. She could set her jaw and square her shoulders and do headstrong with the best of them. The fact remained that she
was
in trouble, though. Giving ground felt somehow like giving in, but if she wanted to keep fighting, she didn't have a choice. She could put her foot down another day because she'd have one. They could argue about him giving her orders then.

So she glared at Kade for another few heartbeats, then turned on her heel and marched down the hall to her room.

The cab ride across the city to Kade's apartment was tersely silent. Melanie kept her backpack on the seat between them, a makeshift barrier against a host of things. The urge to lean into his arms again. The temptation to thump him, just once, on the chest in the hopes of erasing the hint of a smug smile that touched his lips.

The building they drove up to looked more like a warehouse than a structure that would house apartments. There were no landscaped trees or bushes arranged around the front facade, just a simple staircase leading to a battered door that looked more likely to keep the unwanted out than welcome visitors in.

"This is where you live?" Melanie ducked her head so she could see all three stories through the cab window. "You're sure it's safe?"

"You might not want to go walking around the neighborhood alone," Kade confessed. "Especially at night. Good thing we don't have to worry about that, do we?" He handed a few folded bills to the driver, then opened the door and climbed out. "Come on. I'll give you the tour."

She clutched her backpack against her side as Kade punched a security code into the number pad beside the door. It unlocked with an echoing
thunk
and he braced it open for her with his hand above her head.

The hallway beyond, at least, had decent carpeting. The wallpaper was light and took advantage of the cramped space. From here, she could appreciate what someone might see in a place like this.