Shadow Queen Page 2

  Pff! You and your holds. I am so tired of holds.

  He laughed at me rubbing his five-o’clock shadow and sending more shivers up my spine.

  I got up to escape the warm feelings inside and went to the kitchen knowing he would follow. I looked through the fridge for the longest time though I wasn’t the least bit hungry. And he probably knew this anyway.

  My hold isn’t strong at all around you. I’ve proven that unfortunately.

  Seems to me you have superb will power, Mr. Prude.

  “That’s not fair. And you should be more careful with your virtue. It’s not something I think should be given lightly.” Feigning solid anger was getting harder with him.

  I realized then that he saw it as a gift. He wasn’t trying to first and foremost protect it, he was trying to savor it too. Wow!

  “Okay,” I turned to him, “you’re right.”

  A slight hint of amusement centered around his mouth. “Glad you finally noticed.” He turned my embarrassment around on him. He always did that to make me feel better. I loved that about him.

  I told Cas the whole truth later that night. About my mother’s visit and how she insinuated that Calum dies, but does not. Everything about Lee that I knew and ever thought about him. And also, I asked him some questions about his dreams. It was scary what the gods could do.

  I learned more about the mandrake blood he experimented with. It didn’t stay in his body, but a small bag of it stayed with him. He tried to scare me with a story of how he’d given a guy too much and he hasn’t woken yet. When I asked where he is, the only clue he gave was that the humans see that his body is unharmed. I started the conversation about his dreams, but they evolved into his nightmares.

  I asked about the rings instead. They seem important, but really they seem more worrisome than helpful. Yes, they glow. Yes, it guards my thoughts, but I don’t want them guarded. Anymore.

  He alluded to not knowing like always. Finally he told me he agrees that they are important and doesn’t know what that could be but it has to be big for us all five to have it. He thought at first it was just a physical sign that we need each other to finish the task, but decided they might just save us somehow in the end. The end of what I asked? He didn’t say.

  Back at the Hunter school, I heard some of the same history my own ears found growing up. It was said that humans were made from the earth and that were so created to inhabit it. With it came all manner of other creatures including our own when the gods mixed up the races. Gods are a restless bunch. They have destroyed as many creatures as they have created. The Fey race died out long ago, as well as several other factions that used to be among us. The Valkyries were sent down from the legends of women in the sky. Known for their beauty and power, they commanded men with ease. All of that evened out later, but some of us still carried the traits.

  Hunters descended from the humans alone. The power comes from the instilled ability to train daily and always be ready for battle. Their bodies are larger than most, but their training is more than most.

  The Weres were a accident. The creature of the earth to protect themselves at a time when larger creatures were killing off the humans. Different forms of humans branched off with injections of animal genes to supersize themselves against the food chain. It went awry for awhile, but evened out. In the eyes of the humans, it was treated like it never happened. The same thing happened with Lioners. They were extinct within the year of their creation. Scientists have been messing with humans for far too long. Kind of like the gods.

  And the Vampires. Well, they were predators descended from the Egyptians who held various rituals within their own people. They wanted to be and truly were an invincible group of humans.

  With any group, rogues branch away. It takes others within their own groups and across the board to control the masses. That is where we are at today.

  CHAPTER TWO

  This is the way the world ends...

  The rain held out for three days straight. When we trekked through the woods past the warehouse and on to the space we’d cleared to practice on earth's founded floor, I stared at the water that had gathered on the ground into large pools. The drizzle was coming down around us making soft patterns on the watery paths with little sound.

  I followed the trail we’d made in silence not able to hear the other’s footsteps because of the ironically silent rain. I knew they were there though. The wind and their scent still mixed with the air. When one of my senses were weakened by physical hindrances of the earth, another would step up to the plate.

  Spidery lines ran around the ground in moving rivulets under my feet. I stopped once to see how far my boot sank into the ground. It had rained a while now.

  Winter would be here soon. I would turn nineteen before long.

  I’ve known Cas for a year. The time moved like a freight train hauling time sensitive cargo. It was delicate and needed to be guarded closely. I learned from my mother I would look as she did. I wouldn’t age. Immortality wasn’t the issue, time itself was. The humans around us couldn’t see us much longer than five to ten more years. Fortunately, we weren’t around many humans.

  But if the present condition of the factions wasn’t solved and if I wasn’t on the lookout for possible assassins at every corner, maybe things could be different. Maybe one day. Maybe soon.

  Cas and I walked the grounds tonight looking at the moon, the stars, the earth covered with rose bushes. We talked about what we both wanted in the future that may or may not exist but neither of us would say anything to refute it. Sometimes what we want isn't what we should act on. He was unhappy about the wedding date saying it was too long a wait. All present dangers aside, it was nice to watch him simply be a man. An eager man.

  He grinned at me giving me feelings that I don’t always want to hide. Just like that, I’m his again. Over and over.

  He picked a rose and presented it to me. It was yellow with little red edges around the top. Very pretty. I took it from his fingers and wouldn’t you know it, I pricked my finger.

  “Ouch!”

  “Let me see,” he asked in the darkness of the night. Before I knew it, he was putting the finger to his lips. And froze.

  His eyes flicked open. They were glowing bright with an edging of red around the rims. Like the rose. It couldn't have been what I saw, but it was a funny thought.

  “Stace, I need to step away.”

  He did. And he never told me why.

  So I updated my list tonight. The Cassius Rathorth Cross list.

  1. (And most pertinent to mention) drinks blood for nourishment

  2. eats human food for enjoyment

  3. has sharper than average canine teeth, but not razor sharp or anything (just perfectly straight and chiseled)

  4. can fly (soooo love that skill)

  5. can read my mind( but no one else...hmmm) ( and acquired a five mile radius)

  6. can read my all of my emotions (born Valkyrie-not sure if this is because of me or not)

  7. Very, VERY strong Vampire strong (I’m stronger)

  8. can enter my dreams

  9. buys me clothes (Oh, this is skillful, trust me)

  10. (I didn’t know about the erasing thoughts part)

  11. vast knowledge of possible herbs and other things that make others do his will

  12. super sensitive sense of smell

  It was the last one added that led me to the text I just received from Cord, who held the same ability. It was Cord's sense of smell that found my father at a different abandoned Were camp, alone with a note written in blood on his bare back, exhausted and hungry, but alive. They'd cut up every section of his body and left him for dead. They wanted us to find him, but alive wasn't necessarily part of it we guessed. The message:

  Shadow Queen Beware

  My father turned the court over to my brother despite his health returning in a matter of days. Our court medicines were renowned for their great treatments. He said the time had come. My father t
old us all in a group meeting once that he saw the future and knows the outcomes. His tired eyes revealed his demons were still in the constant battle of watching it play out. I would just have to trust him on this too.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ...not with a bang, but a whimper.

  In the heat of the night, I didn’t count on the turn of events involving taking on a hostage. I ran to my room wanting to grab the books I borrowed from Maze last week. She’d checked out several non-fictions on gods and goddesses and the constellations. I listened to the mother of my dream and I heard the male counterparts and their theories, but I wanted to be sure.

  In my room, I snatched all three heavy bound reference books to my chest and turned back for the door stopping dead in my tracks. Lee, the MIA traitor boy, stood with his back against my bedroom door.

  “What are you doing here?” I darted my eyes to where my knives were hidden just under the mattress. His far from novice eyes followed them.

  “I know where you keep your cute little knives, Anastacia. I lived with you for two years.”

  I thanked him for the sad reminder inside my head and tried to redirect him. “You are here why?” I smiled like I was all hearts and roses with him still.

  “I require your assistance.”

  I knew this would come back to haunt me. “What?” I asked shortly. Lee's ability to surprise me never failed to play on my curiosity.

  “I need—

  Knock. Knock.

  “Are you okay, Kissa?”

  Crap. “Quick,” I snapped in a whisper, “Hide.”

  I blocked my mind with such force I hoped it didn't give me away.

  I pushed then dragged him with my hands after dropping the books on the foot of my bed. The flopping sound made Cas ask what I was doing. I made Lee lie down and scoot under the bed. My hand shot to his mouth when he cussed aloud. I begged him with my eyes. He made a grunting sound and bent forward. His Hunter body would have never fit under a normal bed, but this one was raised. I thanked the gods for canary yellow bedskirts. Great, I was about to lie to Cas. It was a good thing I was better at blocking.

  Taking an extensive deep breath, I opened the door. “Sorry. I was indisposed.”

  He glanced around the room like he suspected something and rested his eyes on the end of the neatly made bed all decked out in the same canary yellow. All three books were a dark emerald green making them stand out to the naked eye. I scanned the bed discreetly to see it from his position. There wasn't a good enough reason to have delayed opening the door.

  I started to leave the room and take him with me, but he stopped me by taking my hand in his. It wasn't a gentle touch, but possessive and appearing strangely like a warning. His eyes were still on the books. “Aren't you taking those with you?”

  Double crap. “Uh, yeah. Maze needs to return them.”

  Sure enough, Cas dropped my hand and successfully crossed the room to get the books making the sweat bead on the back of my neck. I felt my eyes burn with wanting to case for evidence of my deceit at Cas' feet that were a mere inch from the bed post and the edge of the bed.

  I croaked out a “Thanks”.

  He gave me a strange glance and looked back across the room like he might see someone or something there. Like a very still Valkyrie/Hunter/Traitor boy under my bed waiting for him to leave. I was going to dry heave if he didn’t leave soon.

  And what would I do when he did leave? Go back?

  I couldn’t leave the guy under my bed or in.my.room. Cas would kill him.

  I would just have to come back.

  Twenty minutes later I had Cas busy checking the kitchen for my dinner and Maze at my back making our way to my room. I opened the door remissively and immediately pushed my eyes downward to check under the bed first. I didn’t have the need to bend my head down because there Lee was, laying across my bed, reading one of my personal books, located in my bottom drawer and holding one of my knives I was certain was my #1 that would have been hidden under my pillow.

  Maze was in a bit of hysterics at seeing my confessed tale to be true. She watched Lee with an expression she usually only wore for girl talk in private. It shouted something along the lines of disbelief at what she really knew about Lee. She never really believed me about Lee's time at my court. She always rolled her eyes and treated it like a fairy tale.

  “Seems my princess will never escape the love advice of the girls of Hertfordshire. I hope he lives up to Mr. Darcy's image.” Lee dropped the book by my pillow, curled my knife under his hand, and slid off the bed. “I need your help Anastacia and now you’ve involved your friend.”

  Maze huffed breaking the silence between the two of us. “You considered me a friend once.”

  “Still do. Just know that I know where your loyalties lie in the safety of where my job lies sometimes.”

  I could have expanded on the duel meaning of the word “lie”, but I didn’t. I wanted to know why he was here and get him out fast.

  “Start talking,” I pressed.

  "Once one's good opinion is lost, it’s lost forever."

  I got his point, but it couldn't be helped. This isn't a storybook and he is not my dance partner and for the record, the only character he could play would be Mr. Wickham. But he didn't want to hear that.

  I led off with a plea of only his name. I wanted to end this conversation and get him OUT. "Lee!"

  "You two really do know each other," Maze professed from the door like she was guarding it.

  With a second glance at my book he reminisced down memory lane when he said with little feeling, “I need your promise that when I stand before others and ask you for something that you will say no, no matter the consequences.”

  At first I wanted to laugh, but relaying the words back to myself made me feel it meant something darker was at work.

  “Why do you need me to promise this?” I said and then added, “For you.”

  “If you are presented with no alternative Anastacia, your survival is the most important factor in the greater scheme. Just promise me you will choose you.” Lee's fists were balled tight whitening more each passing second.

  “As much as I want to hate you Lee, I don't. But I am not sure why I should make a promise to succumb to something so selfish.”

  He swallowed hard making his neck constrict just above where his gray button down collar was open, “Because you won't have a choice.”

  He did know something. He knew what Borgon was going to do next, but he would never say. I feared for one long painful flash of the future that I could lose Lee. I never once wanted him truly harmed. I just wished him to come back from the darkside.

  “I know what your thinking. I can't go back from all this. Believe it or not, I do all of this for you alone, Anastacia. It's always been about you.” His jaw twitched. Maze busied herself with putting my book back in the drawer, then closed herself in the bathroom. We both sat in silence hearing the door click.

  “Then why put me in this situation?”

  “Because I can't get out of this one. I only have enough time if I leave right now to return and not give the edge that I've been here. He knows where my loyalty truly lies and he's about to use it against me.”

  I panicked and scooted closer forgetting myself and grabbing his shirt where the buttons were left open, “If you think for one minute Dyer Lee about sacrificing yourself for anyone or anything, I will kill you personally before the knife deals the final blow. I am not worth being a martyr over.”

  The bathroom door opened and a scared squeal emerged before it shut tight again.

  “You're wrong,” he stood still letting me hold on to him and looking down from his towering height, “you are worth more than anything in this world.”

  “Wake up,” I shook him but not very well considering he was part Hunter. “You need to leave that piece of crap and come back. Stop listening to his lies.”

  “If I hadn't, you'd not be where you are now and you know it.” His tone was serious
enough I believed him one hundred percent even if I didn't admit it.

  “Regardless. I want you back.”

  His eyes closed causing me to let go of his shirt. I stumbled and staggered my words all at the same time, “I mean I want you safe. Safe. I just want you safe.”

  “I can't do that.” He started moving towards the door where he couldn't leave from. “It's late. I need to go.”

  In haste and out of pure fear, I hugged him. He never brought his hands up, but I felt his body breathe into mine. It was all I could give. I couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn but I knew from all that has happened to me in the last year or so that nothing made complete sense. At least not when so many secrets led your life and the others you cared about held them in out of caring for me. It was hard to stay angry with them.

  I couldn’t just walk him out of my bedroom and I couldn’t scale him down the wall spidy style. And I wasn’t a Vampire who could...fly.

  "How did you get in?"

  He smirked, shining his perfectly straight teeth. His amusement at my expense for getting him out undecided was humorous to him and seen as a opportunity to see me sweat.

  I’d just have to sneak him out the door and hope for the best.

  Hope wasn’t on my side today!

  Maze snuck out of the bathroom she'd been hiding in to give us "privacy” then left first saying she would talk really loud to whoever she saw if it was a person that would suspect us as “up to something”. I didn't comment to her or ask how she knew to exit. The answer was obvious. Lee was behind me and using all the best efforts at bugging the hell out of me. He kept purposefully knocking into the back of me “accidentally” letting his hand fall against my butt. On the third time I smacked him silly across the face to prove my point but it backfired when an angry Cas stood stark still on the other side of the Sun room door I was passing. Lee’s hand was strategically still where he’d left it.