Shadow of Doubt: Part 2 (4 page)

“What do you mean?”

“The stuff she accused me of, she was
doing, and more.” He shuddered as if cold. “She’s like
schizophrenic or bipolar without meds or something. Her other side
is frightening, like a serial stalker – probably way worse. I found
out she was using people like you as play things, pawns in her
game. Corrupting them to do her bidding. She did all the things I
detested that Shadows were capable of.” Erebus shook his head. “She
hid everything from me, and I never caught on.” His voice
dropped.

“You never knew?” There was disbelief
in her voice.

His stomach dropped. How he hated
himself for it. “I didn’t. I should have, but the sweet side of her
seemed so real. Plus the whole Shadow-thing is different. It wasn’t
like we lived together. My studio apartment here is the first
physical place I’ve lived, besides a phone booth. Nanny’s some
psycho-schizophrenic.”

“How’d you find out? If you’d been
together already five years, how did you figure it out?” Aurora’s
head tilted to one side, like she was trying to sort through some
tough math equation.

“Nanny’s pretty fearless and bold.
Hmmm… maybe stupid’s a better word. Since I didn’t catch on in the
beginning, I think she grew sloppy. Or she didn’t care anymore if I
found out.” An ironic laugh escaped his lips. “I didn’t believe it
at first, but I found the proof soon enough. She recorded a lot of
her, uh, exploits. Sick, hey? When I found out she’d done something
even worse…” He pictured the scene in his head, closing his eyes.
“There was this married couple. She broke into their house, stole
from them, and physically assaulted them. She didn’t need their
money, or anything but she got some stupid kick out of their fear.
After she was done with them, she kept them naked and tied to their
bed. She beat them with whatever she could find in the room. She
tortured them!” He let out a shaky breath and held his hand up to
stop Aurora from responding. “I had no idea. She had just seemed
weird at the beginning of the night and told me three different
stories of where she had to go. So I followed her. It must have
already been going on for a night or two.”

“Oh my goodness.” Aurora covered her
mouth.

“I didn’t know what. I was terrified
she would kill them. So, I called her and asked her to meet me at a
bar, anything to get her out of their house. As soon as she left, I
rushed inside, untied them, and offered help.” He didn’t add how
terrified they’d been of him, their courage broken. He’d run away
the moment after he called the police.

“The police didn’t catch her?” Aurora
sounded angry, her lawyer voice coming through again.

“Nanny may be crazy but she’s also
extremely bright. On top of that, she’s a Shadow. There’s no record
of her anywhere – no birth certificate, no Social Security Number,
no bank account, nothing…” He let his voice trail off. There was no
record of him anywhere, either. He didn’t really exist.

“So, it’s impossible to catch a
Shadow.”

“You could say that.”

“What about the tapes you said you
found?”

“I found them purely by mistake. I
don’t use a bank, so I often hide the money I have. I uncovered her
chest of videos. She’d neatly labelled and added star ratings on
the damn things. I found them the night before I found the couple.”
His shoulders slumped, and he dropped his head.

Aurora reached for his chin and
brought his head up to look at her. “You reacted as soon as you
found out. You saved those people.”

“Saved them? She broke their spirits,
and I was too late for that. I let them live with the fear and
nightmare of what she did.” He felt the same helpless feeling he’d
been trying to bury for years.

“That’s not true. You didn’t do those
things. She did. What did she do when you confronted
her?”

Could he sink any lower tonight?
Erebus whispered, “I didn’t.” He felt Aurora pull back in surprise.
“I went to my handler, another guy like Janus, and told him. Then I
left.”

“You just left?”

“Yeah. Ten years ago. I didn’t want to
see her again.” He hoped, obviously in vain, that he would never
see her again.

“I don’t get it. She shouldn’t be able
to get away with what she did.”

“Oh, I don’t think she got away with
it. I told our handler. She was punished according to our
laws.”

“Your laws?”

“We have our own set of rules we’re to
follow. If we don’t, we pay the price. We still have to live
according to human laws within our realm. There’s a Night Council.
It’s too complicated to explain.” And too dangerous to even talk
about. If shadows had ears, who knew what could be listening. He’d
just put both of them in terrible danger. That thought cleared
Erebus’ head a moment. “I think I’ve said enough tonight.” Even he
could hear the finality in his voice, firm but sure. “It’s getting
late.”

Aurora opened her mouth to speak but
then closed it. She pressed her lips into a thin line, one corner
of her mouth puckering against her cheek. Aside from the darkness
of the conversation, she looked adorable. Erebus knew he didn’t
want to ever leave her.

“You’re a good man, Erebus. Don’t let
anyone make you think otherwise.” Shifting in her seat, Aurora
leaned towards him. “An’ you’re one fascinating Shadow.”

Unable to resist, he bent forward and
kissed her lightly on her lips. She could bring him pure joy just
with simple words. She’d called him Erebus instead of Aaron. For
the first time in forever, he liked the way his name sounded. What
he couldn’t believe was how she wasn’t disgusted in him, or what he
was.

“I think you’re in denial. Probably
shock,” he whispered. “You’re going to wake up tomorrow morning and
run. You’re too calm to accept all of this.” Part of him was
pleased, the other terrified tomorrow night she’d really be
gone.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, as
if reading his mind. “After spending the past few months with you,
I know how you are. Everything seems so far-fetched at the moment,
but also believable. I’m not sure why, but I feel it here.” She
pressed a hand over her heart and then flashed a quick smile.
“Plus, I don’t run away from challenges.”

“My little tough girl.” He grinned
before his face turned serious again. He double checked the clock
on the dash board. “It’s four in the morning, and you need to rest.
Drive home, sleep, and digest what I’ve told you. I’ll find you
tomorrow night. I promise.”

“You aren’t going to stay over?” she
asked in a quiet, pleading voice. She leaned against him, slipping
her fingers onto his neck and hair. Her smell and touch became
intoxicating, her lips soft just when he needed their
tenderness.

“My heart beats me senseless when
you’re around,” he whispered, the words out of his mouth before he
realized he’d said them. Would he ever figure out how to keep those
personal feelings in his head, not straight out of his gob? He was
glad Coty couldn’t know. He’d never let him live it down. Pulling
Aurora tight to him, his heart hammered against his rib cage. He
could barely concentrate with her this close. He had never known a
heart could beat this strong.

He felt her smile against his
chest.

“Does that mean you’ll stay over?” Her
voice was muffled.

“Tempting. So very, excruciatingly
tempting, but I think you really need to be on your own. I’ll tuck
you in though.” He gently pushed her back, placing her hands on the
steering wheel. He let his hand slide down and rest lightly on her
thigh. As much as he wanted to stay, he also needed time to think
and to find Janus. The latter as soon as possible
actually.

Aurora shifted the car into drive and
headed towards the park exit. Erebus jerked his head slightly. He
turned back and squinted at the parking lot behind them. Aurora
glanced in the review mirror.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing. I thought I saw an animal
standing near the grass.” He shifted around, refusing to look back
again. His inner radar convinced him it wasn’t an animal but
something else.

Chapter 3

Questions

Erebus shuddered as he drew in the
cold, fresh air. It took a few moments for his limbs to relax from
the inner fear, only to tighten from the frigid temperature. It
took a moment, but he shivered again as the reminder of last
night’s events remerged: the conversation with Aurora, seeing
Nanny, the bitter truth of what had happened in the past, then
Aurora’s simple acceptance, taking her back to her apartment, and
then it being too late to find Janus.

Focussing on his immediate situation,
he caught hold of the pay phone just as his feet began to slip on
the slick pavement. Snow covered the sidewalk, but black ice lay
beneath. Regaining his balance, he glanced around to see the
familiar café that stood a few blocks from his apartment. He
followed the aroma and forced himself to ignore the urge to run
into its warmth. The cold never seemed to bother him before, but
tonight it felt glacial.

He was still paranoid about trying the
booth in his apartment. What if it didn’t work since it was
indoors? He’d work up the nerve one morning, but right now he had
more pressing matters.

Once inside, he rubbed his hands
together and blew on them as he waited for his turn in line. After
ordering a large coffee and grabbing a newspaper, he settled into
the nearest booth. Not focused on the cold, his brain seemed warm
enough to allow him to think. He stared at his coffee, pondering
the blackness of the brew with the black of his own Shadow
life.

What had he done?

Aurora knew his secret. He’d just
broken the most important law of Shadows by telling her. He knew he
was already screwed, but that was unimportant. He had to protect
her at all costs. If any Shadow knew, she was dead. He thought
about the last Night Council meeting he’d attended and shuddered.
He pictured Aurora in place of the girl who had begged for her
life. He couldn’t get the terrible image out of his
mind.

He flicked the porcelain mug,
irritated. Instinct had him grabbing at the coffee cup and wrapping
his hands around it to preventing it from toppling over. Hot coffee
spilled onto his hand. Swearing under his breath, he reached for a
napkin and wiped it off. It hadn’t burned but would be sticky
later.

The distraction gave his head the
moment’s rest it needed. First, he needed to speak to Aurora and
warn her to keep quiet. It didn’t seem very likely this was
something she’d be telling other people, but he still needed to
take precautions. Her life meant more to him than anything ever
had.

Second, he had to find a way to get
rid of Nanny. It wouldn’t take her long to figure out something was
going on between Aurora and him. She’d take pleasure in hurting him
by doing something to Aurora. However, he also needed to find out
what she wanted. She wouldn’t come looking for him without some
sort of agenda.

He needed to make sure Nanny didn’t
know where he lived. He’d have to find Janus and ask him to keep
that information to himself. Too bad a Shadow couldn’t get a
restraining order on another Shadow. The Night Council would laugh
in his face if he tried to approach them. At least Janus knew his
past situation with Nanny. He’d be willing to help.

Erebus sighed. Unless, of course,
Janus found out about Aurora. He’d have to stand before the Night
Council. Nothing would matter then. Aurora would be dead, and all
because of him. The Night Council would force him to watch or
participate before they came after him. Horrific pictures filled
him again.

Gulping down the rest of his coffee,
he headed out of the café to his apartment. He checked to make sure
Nanny wasn’t lurking about and, assured of her absence, quickened
his pace. Tapping in the numbers to his keyless entry, he dug in
his coat as his cell began vibrating.

“Hello?” He started flipping lights on
inside and hadn’t bothered to check the caller ID.

“Hiya.” Aurora’s voice sounded breezy.
“You know how hard it has been to sit here all day and wait for it
to get dark out? I’ve been dying to talk to you.”

Dying? More appalling pictures flashed
in front of his eyes. “Is everything alright?” The pictures changed
to images of Nanny stalking unsuspecting Aurora.

“I’m fine, silly. I just have ten
thousand questions I want to ask and can’t wait to see you. Where
are you?”

He sighed, his body relaxing from the
tension he hadn’t even known had crept in. “I’m at my place.” It
was probably best he stayed there tonight; less chance of anyone
seeing him, or them, together.

“
I’ll be over in ten
minutes. Bye.” She hung up before he could reply.

Tossing his coat on the ottoman, he
began pacing. What should he do? Who could he talk to? He hit
Coty’s number and swore when Coty’s voice mail picked up after one
ring.

“It’s me. Call me ASAP.” He flipped
the phone shut, clenching it in his hand, then chucked it on the
couch. With stiff legs, he walked around the room, pausing in front
of the K-Six. He slid the door open and stepped in. Inside the
booth, the heart beat pounding in his ears calmed. He could breathe
normally again. He sagged against the glass and let his forehead
rest against its coolness. His eyes closed
automatically.