Shadow Reign (Shadow Puppeteer Book 2) (17 page)

The walls and high ceiling were painted black. The stained glass windows were in dark shades and candles were everywhere giving light. There was a man on the dais, dressed in a black robe. His short black hair was greased back, but it was the pale of his skin and the black of his eyes that drew my attention. Black like my left eye was completely black.

I read enough books to know he was a priest, but from the ambiance of this room, I couldn’t tell which god he was worshipping. I licked my dry lips and tried to fight the desire to give in to panic. I was outnumbered between him and the creatures filling the pews. Two blades weren’t sufficient, though the guns would level the playing field. Now, did I have enough time to switch out before anything happened?

The priest lifted his head and sniffed the air. Yes, that made me extremely uncomfortable, but I didn’t dare lower my metaphysical shields to see what I was dealing with here.

“We asked for a savior and the gods delivered two. How did we get so lucky?” He talked like something was impeding his speech.

Two people delivered the exact same way? I wasn’t feeling good about this one. Every fiber of my being went on high alert. The only other person, who’d show up through a passageway like this, wearing an arsenal like me, would be Rose. I licked my dry lips.

He took the staircase so gracefully, that I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t floating down them. I couldn’t see his feet beneath the robe, so anything was possible.

“What is your name, warrior?”

Warrior, I liked the sound of that. I was fighting a war, alright, but it didn’t feel like I was winning. The weight of the prism against my thigh said the odds were stacked against me. I had too much to risk and far too much to lose. I save the prism, I lose Rex. I save Rex, I might lose the world and myself.

He looked wearily at my swords, waiting for a response. I found the slightest bit of pleasure in the way his body shivered under the robes. Was it my blade that unnerved him?

How could he not know my name when World Congress had posters everywhere?

“Belen McKnight.”

“
The
Belen McKnight; the one who sunk the Ardent Asylum?”

The chorus sang out “amen.”

“No, Belen is dead.”

I’d recognize that accent anywhere. It came from the dais. The figure tried to move, making the chains clink. Of all the places I thought I’d run into D, this wasn’t one of them. Every part of me was prepared to commit murder. It took a great deal of control to keep from charging the dais, but I didn’t survive this long being rash.

“I assure you, I’m very much alive,” I said. The priest took a step down the aisle towards me and I raised my blade to meet his nose. “I’m trained.”

That was all the warning he would get. With the way I felt, I didn’t want to let him live. The darkness within me responded, begging that I kill him. The sweat that dewed my skin was as cold as ice. I couldn’t let the shadows take control from me. The darkness would possess me if I did anything rash right now. Death seemed pretty rash. It’s what fed them.

“You’re holding blades, but that hardly means you’re trained,” he countered. His smile showed his sharp canines.

Great, another vampire clan that had to be dealt with. Spirit be damned, if they touched D, I was going to behead every single one of them… as long as Khaos didn’t interfere.

The tension was building. They waited for me to say something and no threat sounded quite right in my head. I had to let anger lead me through this one, because if I hesitated for a moment, they were going to be on me.

The growl slipped from my lips. I was angry. “If you don’t want to be permanently dead, you’ll leave this alone. He’s coming with me.”

The vampires flinted and it was movement I couldn’t follow with my eyes. Anxiety lodged in my gut. I was going to need the shadows to fight them if they became aggressive. I should heed this as a warning, but I was beyond my limit for patience. My wrist beeped, none too gentle reminder that Rex needed me.

“You’re stressed. What are you running from?” the priest asked.

His tone indicated I was now an intruder. The hairs on my arms stood on end with the tension building. Every minute wasted, Rex was being bled to death and there was no telling how much blood D already lost.

“None of your business,” I said.

D choked back a pained groan and I had to suppress my anger. No energy followed these vampires like it did the Callicantzaros’. These vampires felt hallow, like smoke just waiting to evaporate. Too bad Utan wasn’t the same. I wasn’t sure if this was information I could use, but the spirits seemed unimpressed.

The entrance door slammed open and wind ripped through the room, ruffling my clothes and pushing my hair over my shoulders. A few of the candles flickered and went out, leaving the moonlight shining through the circular sunroof as a main source of light.

“Actually, it’s very much my business. You have something that belongs to me,” Rose said.

Hearing her mention the prism out loud, made me uneasy. I could feel the weight of that tiny box press against my side as if I were carrying something that weighted ten pounds.

I didn’t dare remove my eye patch to see her better. The shadow that wrapped around her dark form had nothing to do with the shades that existed in the realm of the dead. This shadow followed Utan and now I understood why. Rose came from the Underworld. Was that where the Realm of the Gods sent her first? I couldn’t see her very well because it hazed her features.

She looked uninjured by her journey, which pissed me off. Why was I the one getting dumped on?

“That’s funny, considering the prism wasn’t a gift to you,” I said.

“I see you healed from the wolf blade. Did it hurt having to twist your bones into an ungodly shape?” She tried to ruffle my thoughts. “Let’s see if Belen McKnight really does have nine lives.”

What came was fierce. Electricity jolted down the handles of my blades and I released them, trying to break contact with the pain. Instead of falling, my blades swung upward, swirling dangerously close to my head. I stepped back to avoid the deadly edge and tripped over a disciple curved in a fetal position with their arms over their head. Despite the battle, the vampires bowed towards Rose.

Her telekinesis gave her an advantage. I swung out of the way of a diving blade as it came down hard, stabbing the carpet where I sat moments ago. My shadow heart started to beat, begging to be released. They sat at my fingertips making my skin crawl. If I did this, they would come and fill me. I couldn’t risk my body being taken over.

“I’ll have that prism,” Rose threatened.

If the prism was opened, pandemonium would ensue. Did I care enough about the world? Yes, but I wasn’t so sure it was my choice. My empathy made it impossible not to care and that pissed me off. What could possibly be more chaotic than this?

I slammed hard into a pew, dodging my second flying blade. The tip caught my shoulder and the wound stung. The vampires closest to me grunted. I could see their noises flaring, but they didn’t move an inch. They gave Rose way too much respect.

“I can do this all day. The gods granted me endurance. What did they grant you?”

The vampires were too closely gathered, impeding my movement. The blade came down hard and by sheer luck, tripping once again saved me from anything worse than the surface wound that stung like hell. I had to end this.

It was barely a whispered command in my head. I desired Rose to be pushed back and the shadows were there, shoving her out the door with as much force as she used entering the building. The door slammed shut behind her, making the candleholders and picture frames shake. The vampires remained in their positions as my heart thudded and blood warmed my clothes.

“Belen?” D’s voice shook.

I snapped out of my contemplations and turned to the dais. Not one vampire reached out to stop me as I made my way over to him. Once I was against the table he laid on, I realized it was stone underneath the sheet. His long white pants and willowy, long sleeved white shirt was unmarked by blood. He turned his head to the side, exposing fresh puncture wounds, red and slightly swollen.

His skin was almost as pale as his clothing, which made his golden locks less lustrous. His eyes were at half mass. His long, black lashes brushed the youthful swell of his cheekbones. I cupped his face to steady his head so he could look at me, but he closed his eyes, shutting down.

“You are dead. I saw it. You do not belong here,” there was a great deal of sadness in his voice.

There wasn’t time to explain. I needed to get him out of here and hoped he would follow me to safety. I caught the iron chain at his ankles. His skin was rubbed raw from struggling. My lips were dry and my stomach knotted in hunger. My heart pounded as I waited for Rose to knock the doors down. She didn’t and that made me very nervous. I needed to calm my thoughts and focus on these chains.

I didn’t know a lot about locks and it wasn’t something I thought I could physically manipulate like I’ve done to objects in the past. It was one thing putting energy forward to explode bulbs. It was another to unlock manacles. I brushed my hand over my tired eye and made it back down the steps to the priest.

“I want the keys,” I said.

He didn’t respond. The silence in the room was deafening. I focused on D’s shallow breaths, though I didn’t want to. He was as fragile as a baby bird and I was afraid that if I blinked, he’d die and this time, I wouldn’t be able to resurrect him.

“Keys,” I said again, nudging the vampire in the side with my foot. Stupid, yes, but I was impatient.

He still didn’t move. I bent down and dug my hands into his robe pocket, afraid what I’d find. Nothing was in that pocket or the pocket on the other side. I stood, ready to scream. The tension was building.

“Belen,” D said.

I moved back to the dais and patted his stomach reassuringly. “It’s okay. I’m right here. I’m not going to leave you.”

“The box,” he said.

I turned to the table pressed up against the wall. The box was about the height and length of my forearm. On better inspection, I saw the large key just to the side. I swept it off the table knowing that it would fit the lock. Apparently the priest wasn’t expecting company, or maybe they really didn’t care if D was a sacrifice that got away.

The lock clicked and the manacles opened. D was slow to movement so I put an arm around his shoulders and helped him down, careful not to touch his hands. I wasn’t sure he could survive trying to heal me from these cuts. Any more blood loss could be the end of him.

My hand left a blood stain on his clothes. He looked at it before turning his foggy, gray eyes back to me, but his gaze never fully met mine.

“I can heal you,” he said.

His lips were so pale; they almost looked blue, just like his eyelids. It was just like him to be concerned for someone else’s wellbeing. There wasn’t time to deal with his sympathy, though I couldn’t ignore how it affected him. It was as much a burden on him as my empathy was on me.

“Pain is good. It lets me know I’m still alive,” I said.

He moved just past me to the white box and ran his fingers over the lid.

I came up behind him. “We need to get going.”

Rose was waiting for something. The vampires remained on the ground, but I felt the molecules twisting in the air. Rose was coming back with something strong. Even the spirits seemed more restless than usual. D took a long breath, collecting himself and I stood just behind him, ready to shove my shields down and blast Rose. I didn’t want to kill her, but I would to protect the prism and D.

He slid his fingertips along the seam before pushing the lid up. The light was sheer, burning even beyond the thick patch that covered my eye. I raised a hand and turned my back as heat consumed the small space, and then it was gone. Just like the wolf heat that consumed me when Brede took charge of my transformation. It was uncomfortable, but when it was gone, I immediately missed it.

I looked back at D as he slid the bright bead into a black vile. Before he could cap it, an explosion rocked the front of the building, spewing splintered wood and glass. It knocked the vile from his hand and I grabbed him despite his fight to get to the beads. Four of them burned a bright path in the dust and darkness as they rolled down the steps and into the debris.

“I need them,” D whined.

I yanked him back behind the stone table, trying to ignore his desperation while feeling it in my own heart. My skin burned with shallow cuts and blood spotted his clothing as well.

“Come out and play,” Rose taunted.

“We need to leave,” I yelled at D over the vampires screeching. They weren’t thrilled with the flying wood and burning building either.

There was a doorway at the bottom of the dais. I prayed it wasn’t a closet or holding cells for other victims. I grabbed his arm and lead him down the few steps, grateful we had the dust for cover. My fingers barely grazed the knob before I was pulled back.

“Going somewhere?” Rose hissed in my ear. Her hand tightened on my pouch.

I glanced back, nervous for D, but he was making his way over the dais where the beads rolled, completely consumed with his own issue.

R
ose’s essence was a mix of brimstone and sulfur. It was a thick stench that coated my nose and the back of my throat. I had to get her off me.

“That prism is mine. Give it to me!” She snapped her teeth.

If I wasn’t holding her back, she’d bite my nose. I hardly recognized the animal she’d become. I shoved my leg between us and pushed upward, managing to give us a little space. It wasn’t much and her fingers were curved like talons. Her nails scratched at my exposed flesh, trying to rip out my throat.

She grabbed my pouch and I grabbed her hand. In desperation, she yanked at the pouch and one of the leather pull strings broke. Salt sprayed over my scratches, making them ache. I refused to give in. I pulled my arm back and let my fist fly. The feel of her nose breaking under my knuckles made my stomach churn, but it barely fazed her.

“Do you want to see what your dog went through?” she hissed.