Shadow Play: (4 page)

Soldiers guarded the cell unit, four by Ellie’s count, others stationed at the falls and the perimeter of the camp.

Ahead of her, Cam paused. Ellie had already ceased moving, waiting for him to order the men away from the entry to allow her two selves to pass within unseen.

Managing her shadow this way wasn’t without risks, the first being that her nude, jiggly-breasted dark self attracted attention. And her shadow loved it. At least the dimming light would partially cloak their advance.

Her shadow came up close behind her, put her mouth to Ellie’s ear. “Look. Boys. Big ones.”

Four months ago, Ellie wouldn’t have been able to stop the spectacle her shadow would have put on to get the armed men staring. She didn’t want to think too much about what that said about her. Exhibitionist for starters. The names got worse from there.

“JT,” Ellie reminded herself.

And her shadow spoke again in those smoothly running syllables. The language was a windfall they hadn’t expected, and Cam intended to make the most of it.

But Ellie was frustrated. “English, please.”

The indecipherable words continued … then cut off, midstream.

“Danger,” her shadow said.

Ellie felt a lurch, a rip, a yank as her dark self tried to tear away. So strong, like a big dog, teeth bared, straining against its tether to run down an intruder.

“Someone
bad
here.”

Her shadow’s instincts were always dead on. Always. But this was not the time, not the place, for her to be loose.

“No,” Ellie told her shadow. She pulled with all her strength, seeking the rubber band snap of union.
Inside.
Her shadow had to be inside her right now. The last time they’d encountered a “bad” person, her shadow had had a box cutter in her hand, ready to slit the man’s throat. The last time, Cam had been armed. Last time, he’d shot the vulnerable part of her, flesh and blood, to stop the violence.

Her shadow half-merged into Ellie’s body, yet half-flailed, still separate, for freedom. “Danger. There’s a bad man. I feel a bad man. Death.”

Joined, Ellie could feel the wrongness now, too. “Cam!”

Her shout brought the soldiers’ rifles out, but that didn’t signify that they could see anything unusual in the darkness.

“Stand down!” Cam commanded the soldiers, then turned, his body shielding her, “What—?”

Her shadow, like a demon, leaned out from Ellie’s waist. “Someone’s with JT.”

“Stay behind me,” Cam said.

Ellie nodded, flushed, lightly panting, but whole again.

He knew it wouldn’t last. “JT” had to be the fae look-a-like, since that’s where her shadow was determined to go. The “bad man” could be anyone. “Danger” was just as vague. “Death” was the least promising. But at least they had the warning, rather than walking in blind.

They approached the soldier at the doorway, where Cam stopped. “Has anyone been in to see the fae since we left?”

“No, sir. Quiet here.” A formal delivery.

But Col. Langer would be coming momentarily. Cam had seen the quick message the soldier had delivered into a throat mic. Segue’s soldiers had those, too. They made everything run very fast, very coordinated.

And left him very little time.

He signaled for a soldier to buzz him into the unit. He’d intended to order them to briefly face away while Ellie and her shadow entered. They knew of the paranormal, but none were cleared to know about Ellie. Good thing she had managed a rough union again.

Cam went inside first. Dr. Velez was standing to the side of a counter. No one else was present. No sign of disturbance.

So he stepped out of the doorway to allow Ellie inside as well. Three strides to the observation window. A fast glance. The cell was empty. But it smelled a little funny. Metallic.

The doctor still hadn’t spoken.

“Where was the fae taken?” Cam demanded. Something was definitely wrong here, probably triggered by his and Ellie’s arrival a couple of hours ago. Was this an attempt by Grant to protect his work? Colonel Langer could have moved the fae as well. He’d been very suspicious of Ellie after her demonstration at the waterfall.

Cam felt Ellie come up beside him. She was visibly shaking, her breath broken with gasps.

Damn it. Every second she seemed worse. Any moment, her shadow would be exposed. She was clearly nowhere near ready for this mission. Rest would only do her so much good. Segue would probably have to emergency extract her from the site tonight.

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed to comfort. A small setback, that’s all. He’d deal with the fae issue first, then pull out. He would not risk her life for JT, who was probably already lost to the mortal world. Grant and Langer could have their waterfall.

Ellie sobbed, groaned. “I’m sorry I can’t hold …” She threw her head back, as the shadow lunged partially out of her again, grabbing the doctor’s neck and slamming her up against the back wall. “Fae!”

The doctor whimpered, but even that sounded weird. Not human.

Then Cam noticed the doctor’s black black eyes, similar to the fae’s, though different in shape. He felt a rush of heat, his own intuition telling him to protect Ellie.

Where was the real doctor?

Ellie lent her human hand to her shadow one to keep the fae/doctor in place, saying, “Don’t trust what you see.”

Yeah, Cam had gotten that memo loud and clear. He backed up to survey the cell unit again, the hair at his nape rising.

Illusion, the essence of Twilight, was at work here.

Someone’s with JT,
the shadow had said.
Danger. Death.

Cam could name that metallic smell now: blood.

He breathed deep to prime himself. Segue had trained him in hand-to-hand combat, but it didn’t come easy. Nevertheless, he’d give his life for Ellie’s. In a heartbeat. Her shadow was right: danger. He would follow her lead. Strike first, question later.

“Have you got hold of the fae?” he asked, slowly pivoting to take a closer look at the room.

“I’ve got somebody,” Ellie said.

And at the same time, she held her shadow, too. He was an idiot for doubting Ellie’s strength. The shadow had simply been fighting to warn them. He cursed himself for not paying better attention. Looked like they both needed more field experience.

There. A strange warp of light in his peripheral vision. A hair-thin line of disruption that was the height of a man, barely visible. An intruder.

At Segue, Cam had been drilled black and blue many times. Balance. Shoulders and head above hips. Keep your guard—one hand up, one down. Never stop moving. Create openings by striking high and then low. Get behind your opponent to gain the advantage and control.

Heh. But what if you couldn’t actually
see
your opponent?

Heart booming, he struck into the warp of air.

Connected with someone’s chin. Felt the impact in a burn, wrist to elbow.

The intruder fell out of his cover onto the floor. He rolled in a whirl of smoky Shadow, and right back into invisibility. A black-bladed knife was left behind. And the prone body of the real doctor appeared, glassy-eyed, mouth slack, a pool of blood around her. The metallic smell grew stronger, pungent.

Ellie. Cam wheeled to stand in front of her. As he did so, he brushed something not visible to the naked eye. He struck again at nothing, but a black starburst blanked his mind, and a warm flow of blood rushed from his nose. Keep moving. Get off the line. He headed into the pain with a reach, grabbed the intruder by the neck. Flipped him on his back.

For the first time, he got a good look at him. Black eyes, short brown hair, beard growing in. And then the intruder slid again into nothing before his eyes. The knife was gone.

A rush of air—Cam dodged a strike, and brought his elbow up. Connected. Heard a
woof
of pain. A gasp.

Cam eyed the room, huffing for air, nose still dripping blood. But yeah, he could take this guy.

And then his head was yanked back by the hair, an edge pressed against his throat. He wracked his mind for a way out of this one. He could feel the prickle of parting skin.

“Let her go,” the intruder growled to Ellie.

He wanted the fae. Whether the fae was willing, Cam couldn’t tell. But Ellie would know not to bargain. If the intruder were willing to kill one, or two, he’d be willing to kill more. And if the fae would support those efforts, then under no circumstances, including the knife at his own throat, should the fae-in-doctor-form be released.

“You want her?” Ellie asked, a corner of her mouth tugging up. Mean. Sly. Shadowy.

Cam stopped breathing. Oh dear God.

“You got her.”

All Ellie had to do was relax into the rage, and her shadow leapt out of her grasp and into the air, dusky-skinned, nude, solid with anger. Gravity could not hold her. Her feet landed on the wall above the intruder’s head with a crash that rattled the mobile unit.

He cried out in fear, slashing upward with his scary knife. But no blade could cut through shadow. No bullets could lodge within. The shadow was invincible. And insane, which was why Ellie (usually) kept her on a leash.

Cam wrenched himself out of the intruder’s hold and ducked across the room to stand in front of Ellie.

“You okay?” he asked over his shoulder, panting. “Got a good hold on the fae?”

“I’m good,” she answered. The fae had not resisted at all.

Ellie’s shadow leaned over the intruder, looming upside down, breasts bobbing.

“My Cam!” she shrieked into his face.

The intruder’s blanch of horror was warranted. Ellie would’ve told him to run, but really, there was no escape. Ellie had tried to flee her shadow all her life. Couldn’t be done.

An aerial cartwheel brought the dark body down.

The intruder whisked out of sight.

But the shadow kicked backward, as if she knew exactly where he was, and slammed him in the stomach back up against the wall. The ceiling joints parted, opening the room to a sliver of nightfall.

The man coughed blood.

That was nothing; Ellie had seen her shadow stop a moving car. When motivated, there was very little she couldn’t do. Except abide by laws or higher reason.

Perfect instinct against petty illusion. No contest.

Ellie felt a hysterical giggle of nerves burble to the surface. She winced at Cam. “I might feel a little possessive about you.”

Cam shot her a warm grin. “I’m all yours, sweetheart.”

Still … “Not a nightmare girlfriend?”

“Fantasy all the way. Do your thing.”

The intruder split into multiple versions himself, creating a perimeter of men, all the same. Ellie could feel two of them heaving air just behind and to her side. But she wasn’t letting go of the fae.

Cam put his arms out to shield her. No one had ever done that before.

Her shadow lunged as more intruder men appeared, grabbed one by the shirt and pants waist, and threw him at the wall again. This time, the wall collapsed entirely, exposing the inside of the cell unit to the night air.

Outside, soldiers were positioned in a semicircle, weapons ready and aimed. The noise had gathered a crowd beyond them—Dr. Grant, Col. Langer, Ms. Parson, her son, various staff. The two brawling in the dirt didn’t seem concerned, but Ellie was suddenly burning with embarrassment. The Twilight water-sweet air only amplified her humiliation.

A grappling turn, and her naked self knelt on the intruder’s neck, a rock in her hand to bash his skull.

“No!” Ellie shouted, yanking herself back even as her shadow brought the rock down. Not murder.

Her shadow’s arm faltered, wavering back, then heaved forward. That rubber band tug-of-war again.

“I will not kill,” Ellie said through gritted teeth, and dragged her shadow off the prostrate form of the unknown man.

He groaned, blood splattered, and then he tried to roll onto his side.

The shadow strained forward, swiping, but Ellie pulled her, made her skid unwillingly backward.

Everyone could see now. Everyone would know her for the monster she was. The knowledge was there on the faces of those gathered, a kind of unblinking, open-mouthed recoil that she’d always feared. That she deserved.

“Steady.” Cam’s arm went around her waist and gave her the resolve to draw her shadow, hissing and snapping, back into full union. Her mind blacked with her shadow’s rage that the intruder should
dare
try to take Cam, the one good thing in her life, away from her.

She almost lost control again just thinking about it, but the man on the ground rolled fully, and in so doing, wavered back out of sight. She didn’t think he’d try again, at least not immediately. All considered, he should probably be in a hospital.

“We need someone to take custody of the fae,” Cam called, reaching to haul the fae-in-doctor-form forward. “And a new security detail to be prepared for anything.”

Col. Langer jutted his chin Ellie’s way, expression hard, like the meanness displayed before a witch hunt. “What about her?”

But Ms. Parson answered, a huge smile of victory splitting her face. Certainty and hope burned in her eyes. “She’s going to bring back my son.”

CHAPTER 3

“My guess is a mage,” Cam said to Col. Langer. “Someone with Shadow magic in his blood. Segue has lately come to learn of their existence, though very little is yet known. And I don’t know why the fae changed its appearance. Could be defensive. Could be playing games. Could be in collusion with the mage.”

Ellie was in the adjacent room, door closed, where no one could see her. Her shadow might relish attention, but quiet Ellie was most comfortable alone, as she’d been most of her life. Cam hoped to eventually increase that comfort level to include him.

But really, she’d done more than enough. She didn’t have to endure the questions of Col. Langer or the eager scrutiny of Grant on top of everything else. Cam would fill her in later.

Col. Langer cocked his jaw to the side. “We have a full disclosure agreement with Segue. Why weren’t we informed of these so-called mages before?” His eyes slid toward the closed door. “And why wasn’t I given details on the nature of Ms. Russo’s …
situation
upon your arrival? Obviously, she impacts the safety of this search and rescue.”