The Shadow Zone 2: Winning Madeline

The Shadow Zone 2: Winning Madeline
Isabella Jordan

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Copyright ©2010 Isabella Jordan

ISBN: 978-1-60521-511-2
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Changeling Press LLC
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www.ChangelingPress.com
Editor: Crystal Esau
Cover Artist: Reneé George

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The Shadow Zone 2: Winning Madeline

Isabella Jordan

While tailing a Lycan soldier through the Shadow Zone, the dying world of the humans, the vampire Maddox finds himself falling for the frail, beautiful prostitute his subject visits. When Madeline is caught in the crossfire, Maddox takes her under his protection, and offers her a life with him as her exclusive client.

The Lycan, his plans foiled, wants revenge, putting everyone Maddox knows in danger. Maddox has only one recourse -- hunt the hunter, before he becomes the prey.

Maddox can deal with cold-blooded killers and the deep and seedy underworld of the Shadow Zone. But he has no clue how to win Madeline’s heart. What will happen to him if she can’t see past the monster to the man who wants her, body and soul?

Chapter One

Earth, 2070

“You’re quiet.”

Maddox followed his friend Rick through the ornate door of his mansion. It was concern he recognized in Rick’s voice. Why deny the truth? “I know. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“I’m very grateful to you.” Rick’s dark eyes met his, his Spanish accent thicker as it always was when he conveyed any sort of emotion. And that was rare. Maddox had always found it an endearing trait. “I asked a lot of you. You stayed here, guarded my home, and held the Lycans at bay. I really shouldn’t ask you to stay and help me protect Julia now.”

Maddox smirked at him. “You’re saying you owe me?”

Rick grinned, rolling his eyes. “I’m trying to have a moment here.”

“But you just said, in so many words, that you
owe
me,” Maddox pointed out.

“I’ll never hear the end of that, will I?” Rick laughed.

“No, probably not.” Maddox clapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m glad to do it. Besides, I don’t think the Lycans will be after Julia so ardently even when they realize she’s back here. As the Elders mentioned at the meeting, they’re hitting the zone harder now. They’re convinced that if she somehow managed to unearth the humans’ secret, they surely can. She’ll just be a backup plan now. Think about it. It makes sense.”

The Shadow Zone. They called it the zone for short. The world of humans had been devastated, they’d thought, by war and disease. Their kind, the vampires, had watched in amazement as the world of humans came apart in less than fifty years.

It wasn’t until later that they’d discovered there was something else going on at the center of the fragile creatures’ world. Something dark and sinister. A cult within the human ranks found a way to unnaturally prolong life using black magic. They sucked the will out of the victims among their own kind as surely as the vampires drained the lifeblood from their prey. The victims of the cult lived. Yet the experience left them emotionless drones, robbed of their free will and easy to control.

To Maddox, it was ten times worse than being a vampire. Better to just die than be robbed of a happy, meaningful existence where one could make his or her own choices, right?

Besides, vampires fed because they had to do so in order to survive. The members of this cult didn’t have to do what they did to their victims to survive. They did it out of a selfish need to prolong their own lives, to preserve their youth and vitality. The end result was nearly the same except they could opt out of it at any time -- just stop participating in the cult’s rituals. He wasn’t sure of any consequences they faced in doing so, especially after many years, but they had a
choice
. Something his kind didn’t. Once you were a vampire, you were dead. There was no opting out of that.

Well, he knew one consequence they faced. Neither the cult members nor their victims seemed to be able to produce offspring after their experiences. They were left barren. Considering the cult encompassed more than half of the remaining human population, it was easy to do the math and realize that they’d run out of victims soon.

Then there were the damned Lycans. Werewolves. Julia’s kind. They thought the cult was some great secret to their salvation. Their view of the picture was distorted. They were worried about the vampires when they should have been worried about the dangerous human cult. With the human population dwindling, the stupid mongrels were convinced the vampires would hunt them -- not stopping once to think that his kind was smarter than that. They’d come up with a backup plan that would eliminate the need to take life, human or otherwise, for their sustenance. It wasn’t as satisfying as hunting and feeding according to a vampire’s instincts -- but there it was. It was a way to coexist with the humans. It was a way for the two groups to survive.

The Lycans decided at some point that they needed to be immortal too. Just because a few idiot vampires -- there were some in every crowd -- picked off a few werewolves, they believed themselves in danger of being wiped out by them. They wanted the humans’ secret, the
cult’s
secret, not realizing they should be running like hell from it. They were convinced it would give them a chance at growing their population, offer them protection from extinction.

Couldn’t the Lycans see
they
were the humans’ next target? The vampires wouldn’t be vulnerable to the human rituals obviously. The werewolves were living beings and since that was true, there was a chance their dark magic might work on them. And the humans hoped to harness their strength. They’d proved that when they’d captured Julia -- his friend’s werewolf lover.

“Do you think they’re right?” Rick asked, his expression thoughtful.

Maddox knew his mind-reading friend had been following the line of his thoughts. They’d just come from a meeting with the Council of Elders, the oldest of their kind and their governing body. Rick usually wasn’t quick to agree with anything
they
said. Hell, he thought his friend often defied them to entertain himself. Maddox had been certain when he learned about Julia that Rick only used her to piss them off.

When he’d discovered his friend was clearly in love with the mongrel, he’d been genuinely surprised.

“That’s my beloved you’re thinking about.” Rick’s voice was gentle but held a note of warning.

“Sorry.” He’d have to remember to curb his pet names for the werewolves. “Old habits and all that.”

Rick chuckled.

“Well?”

“Do I think that they’re right? In having us try to save the do -- Lycans?” Maddox shrugged. “I can argue both sides of that one. On the one hand, I want to leave them to fend for themselves. If they’re too stupid to have been in the zone as many times as they have been and know what they do know and not be afraid? I say let the humans have them.”

Rick nodded.

“But, one thing they brought up worries me. If they gain control of the wolves…”

“That could be a problem.” Rick closed the door behind them, walking around Maddox to the enormous window that offered a view of the perfect landscape of his estate. “We have the strength to handle their population now and then some. But if the humans grew that population, controlled it…”

That wasn’t where Maddox was going with it.

“What?” Rick cocked a sable brow at him.

“I’m not so worried about that. If the humans are left barren after they do whatever it is they do in their little rituals, don’t you think the Lycans would suffer the same fate? Be unable to procreate?”

“I don’t know. What are you getting at, then?”

Rick hadn’t been able to pick that out of his head? Interesting. He must have been distracted and Maddox knew why. He could smell her approaching.

“I was thinking about something they took from Julia while she was there,” Maddox explained. “Wonder what they are doing with that? They wouldn’t care if the wolves could procreate if they could produce their own.”

Her ovum. Depending on their remaining scientific capabilities, they could be learning all kinds of secrets about the Lycans. They could be making plans…

“Hello, beautiful.” Rick was lost to him as the flame-haired one in her human form sauntered into the room to join them.

Maddox had to admit for a werewolf female, she was extremely attractive. Slender but curvy with a beautiful face and penetrating eyes that seemed to be able to see through any façade or defense one could consider putting up.

Maddox didn’t even try. He enjoyed annoying her too much.

For the moment she didn’t even notice he was in the same world as she took Rick in her arms and kissed him in a very promising way. He didn’t mean to stare at them. He could imagine a kiss like that. Only it wasn’t Julia he saw. No, he saw a pale beauty with wispy blonde hair and eyes the color of rare amethyst…

“Hello, Maddox.” Julia’s eyes flashed at him when she noticed he stood there. “Are your bags packed yet?”

“I’d started packing,” he began, letting the sarcasm bleed into his words. “I left the one bag right next to your dog dish. But it seems Rick wishes for me to remain a while longer yet. So I’ll move it back to my room right away. I wouldn’t want to keep you from the table scraps.”

“Arrogant asshole.” She glared at him, then at Rick.

Rick’s glance seemed to say
thanks
. Not in a nice way.

“What do you mean he’s staying here longer?” Julia’s temper was riled now.

Maddox would let Rick explain it. It was his decision after all. His crafty friend could probably go out in the zone as the Elders wanted and keep Julia safe. Yet he knew how much the female really meant to his friend. So he’d help him ensure her safety. Rick would stay close to home. Maddox would work the zone.

It was an assignment he wanted for a few reasons. One of them, the one he dwelled on most often, was tiny, human, and blonde.

“Have fun,” he said casually as if he weren’t leaving what was gearing up to be a big fight from the look of both Rick and Julia, and made his way back out of the mansion.

Maddox had time before giving his latest report to the Elders and he’d wanted to give Rick and Julia some time to themselves. Automatically, he headed for the zone, his body knowing his mind’s will without being told.

Just maybe it was the will of his heart. His dead, frozen heart would have thundered in his chest if it could have as he reached the door to her small, dirty cottage. There didn’t seem to be anywhere else he wanted to be these days. When his missions kept him away, his mind was here. Always here.

It was very early morning in the zone, the human world. Only a couple of hours until dawn. Making his way to her tiny window, he reached in to push the tattered curtain out of the way, just as he always did so he could see her.

There she lay on the lumpy contrivance that was supposed to be a bed. Why the fragile human woman fascinated him so, he couldn’t have said. Her silky fine hair curled like honey colored ribbons on her pillow. Her slender body was curled up as she lay on her side under a blanket that had seen better days. She wore only a worn shift, what she always slept in and the sight of it always made him long to see what she’d look like in a decent gown, in beautiful colors. She was painfully thin, probably because she didn’t make enough money to eat at times. How glorious would she look well fed and healthy?

Maddox had been sent to follow one of the higher-ranking Lycan soldiers, Vincent G., into the zone and that was how he’d found her. She earned money selling her body and the soldier visited her often. The first time he’d watched her with that brute had been hard to take. He hated how rough the mongrel always was. It was unnecessary for him to be so, knowing she was human and could easily be harmed.

His job was to shadow the Lycan so he hadn’t really had a choice. He’d had to watch. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

By the next time he followed the soldier to her door, Maddox was imagining himself in Vincent’s place. In his fantasies, it was
him
in her arms, inside her. Once those fantasies had formed, he carried them everywhere in his mind, playing them like a favorite dream each night.

Impossible. He didn’t have Rick’s ability to manipulate human thoughts and perceptions. He couldn’t project an image in her mind that he was just another human client.
Oh, if he could have
. He’d have had her so many times… He would have had to take such care not to hurt her, knowing he could kill her so easily. But he would have found a way.

As it was, his skin was cold. He had no heartbeat, no warmth. No amount of money would persuade her to take him. Most humans, the humans outside of Rick’s village anyway, while aware of the existence of his kind, still acted as they had back in Europe centuries ago. They treated them like terrifying monsters. Something to inspire absolute mortal terror. It was as if they couldn’t see beyond that to the fact that they co-existed, shared the same world.

A vampire… Hell, even the Lycans were accepted, as opposed to his kind. Why? Because they lived?

She twisted in her sleep, a small frown forming on her lovely face. She looked almost like a child in sleep. She’d become restless. Did she sense danger in her sleeping conscience? Did his presence disturb her sleep?

He shared her restlessness. Not content with watching through her window, he silently made his way past the shadowy curtain that served as her door. Since he’d gone that far, he moved to the edge of her bed. He didn’t want to stand over her like a predatory monster so he sank down onto the floor, sitting next to her.

The smell of her was an earthy perfume that made his mouth water.
Her blood
. Shoving aside the thirst that cursed him, he focused on the other need she inspired in him. A man’s physical need for a woman. That need never really left him. He got hard just thinking of her now.

Madeline
.

In his mind’s eye, he could see himself gently climbing onto her makeshift bed, gathering her to him until his presence pulled her from sleep. Her eyes would flutter open in surprise, they were the most beautiful shade of purple, and she would smile up at him, offering him the warm curve of her lips.

He’d claim those lips in a tender kiss while the heated softness of her body crushed against him. He’d explore all that warm flesh with his hands. His palms itched at that thought. First he’d pull the simple shift she slept in up and over her head to reveal the wealth of warm skin that tantalized him. And she’d trust him and welcome his touch.