Shadow Angel: Book One

by Leia Stone

  Its horned head grazed the nine-foot-high doorway as it stomped into the room, the very foundation of the community center shaking with each hooved footstep it took. Smoke billowed from its animal-like mouth when it exhaled, the dark substance swirling around its head.

  The beast’s red gaze swept back and forth, not resting in any one place until its eyes found me, and then held.

  Crap. It’s looking right at me.

  “Shadowling,” it growled, it’s multi-tonal voice raking over me like a barbed whip shredding through flesh.

  That’s what the demon from the subway had called me, but I still didn’t know what it meant. A bolt of fear struck me right in the chest, and I stumbled backward a step. The demon’s eyes tracked my movement, and then with another mighty bellow it rushed toward me. Other Lumen fighters tried to engage the beast as it steamrolled forward, but it swatted them out of the way with ease. Lumens flew ten and twenty feet from a single shove of this beast, and my throat went bone dry as I watched.

  The moment the bull-like creature was in reach, instinct had me dropping low, daggers held in each hand ready to slash out.

  My nostrils flared as I sucked in a breath of sulfur-tinged air, and I realized with sudden clarity that I was probably going to die today—I wasn’t anywhere near all right with that.

  Determination to stay alive drove out the terror that had been riding me since the Netherworld portal appeared. I wasn’t going out quietly, and if possible, I was taking this ugly demon with me, or at the very least one of its creepy red eyes.

  My hands gripped my weapons so tightly that my fingers went numb. The monster was only steps away. I lifted my arm, ready to swipe at the beast, when I was tackled out of the way.

  I hit the ground hard, absorbing not only my own weight, but that of another on top of me.

  “Stay down,” Drea shouted as she popped to her feet.

  I rolled over and watched the demon ram into a group of Lumens battling shadow serpents. It took them out like bowling pins, but rather than finishing them off, the beast stopped and searched for me. It spotted me right away, and with another mighty bellow, headed back in my direction. It was a clear shot between me and the demon. Only Drea stood in its path.

  I shoved to my feet, already having seen what this beast did to Lumen warriors in its path.

  “No!” I screamed, throwing my hand up in the direction of Drea as if I had the power to stop the inevitable with sheer willpower alone, but of course that did nothing.

  With a blade of light in one hand and what looked like an electrified whip in the other, Drea looked ready to take down the monster, but when it neared her it swung its massive arm at her, its fist on a collision course with her temple.

  Drea tried to dip and twist out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough. The demon’s meaty paw clipped her shoulder, sending her flying into the wall. Her body hit the cinderblock wall, and then slid to the ground.

  I scrambled for her, stumbling and dodging battles between Lumen and shadow serpents along the way. When I reached the spot where she was crumpled on the ground, I dropped down next to her.

  “Drea,” I shouted over the battle noises. I didn’t want to jostle her if she had a spinal injury or something.

  She groaned, and her eyes fluttered but didn’t fully open.

  Another roar shook the community center and ceiling dust trickled down on us. I looked over my shoulder to see the giant bull-like demon fix its red-eyed gaze on me.

  This demon was relentless. What was its deal? Was I secreting some weird “attack me” pheromones? Why was it so fixated on me?

  Kids shrieked, Lumens shouted commands, and the sounds of battle echoed in all directions. The room was in chaos, but my attention was singularly focused on the beast barreling toward me. The dark monster wanted me and had already proved it would destroy everything in its path to get me. The only way to protect everyone from its wrath was to lead it away.

  “You want me?” I whisper-growled. “Fine. But you’re going to have to catch me first.”

  Pushing from the ground, I took off for the emergency exit on the far side of the room. I didn’t have to glance behind me to know that the nether-beast was following because I could practically feel its smoke-filled breath on the back of my neck as I ran.

  Shoving through the door, I spiraled my way down the narrow staircase, not stopping when the beast smashed through the emergency exit behind me, taking down part of the wall in the process.

  My feet barely touching each step as I bounded toward the first floor, I tried to formulate a plan, but the only thing my mind could come up with was, Run faster!

  My lungs burned and my legs felt like Jell-O as I flew down the multiple floors taking three steps at a time. The sounds of the beast tearing after me gave me the endurance I needed to push through the pain. I had one more floor to go.

  As if knowing he was about to lose his prey, the beast roared angrily. The vibrations shook the stairwell, and I lost my footing. Pitching forward, I tumbled down the last set of steps, my shoulder, knee, and thigh all taking painful impacts as I rolled. Sharp stabs of pain ripped through my body as I slammed into the door at the bottom landing and spilled out of the building and into the courtyard.

  I’d lost my daggers somewhere in all that rolling, and there wasn’t time to go back for them. Bruised and bloodied, I heaved myself off the ground and took off again, sprinting through the open gate that encompassed the entire compound and toward the alley between the Healing and Community Center. It was only three beats before the monster Hulk smashed through the exit after me.

  I neared the mouth of the alleyway at an all-out sprint. Grabbing one of the metal bars from an open gate as I passed, I used it to help me veer around the corner, so I didn’t run into oncoming traffic.

  There was a group of teenagers on the sidewalk that I nearly took out. They cussed at me as I barreled through them. I glanced back and caught a glimpse of the demon hot on my tail, but it phased right through the teens like Indigo had told me they could. If I wasn’t running for my life, I would have sighed in relief. If she’d been wrong about that, it would have meant I would have just unleashed a nether-beast on the unsuspecting people of New York City.

  “Tate!” a familiar voice called out.

  Jerking my head forward, I saw Gage running toward me. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the demon behind me. He mouthed a silent curse and skidded to a halt, then changed course so we were both racing in the same direction.

  “Follow me,” he yelled.

  Gage was a Shade, and I didn’t completely trust him, but I was out of options. I kept my gaze locked on his back as he sprinted ahead of me. He glanced back more than once to check that I was still keeping up. Sweat dripped down my face, and my lungs were about to explode, but there was no way I was slowing anytime soon.

  “Shadowling!” the creature bellowed another time, and I ran even faster, catching up to Gage. Grabbing my hand, he yanked me down a narrow alley. We were through it and at the next block in seconds.

  Gage tugged me to the right. “The cemetery,” he said. “Demons can’t set foot on the resting places of the dead.”

  He pointed to a small patch of green a block away that was sandwiched between two high-rise apartments. As we neared, I looked for an entrance and noticed the gates were shut, a length of chain holding them closed. The cemetery was ringed by a spiked metal fence that was at least eight feet tall.

  Reaching the fence, I tried to scale it, but it was just too high and the decorative fleur-de-lis spikes at the top made it awkward to try to climb over.

  Gage cursed. Knitting his hands, he bent over and gestured for me to put my foot in his hold. When I did, he boosted me up high enough that I could scramble over the top.

  I dropped to the ground on the other side, and a burst of unfamiliar energy flooded my body. It felt like lightning bugs were zipping back and forth under my skin, but I pushed the sensation to the back of my mind and spun ju
st in time to see the beast only a handful of steps from Gage.

  Facing the approaching monster, Gage held a sword that was easily the length of his arm. Dark tattoos pulsed over his forearms, and smoke poured from his clenched hand running up and down the length of his steel blade. I had a sudden flashback of Drea’s body flying through the air when the demon had swatted her away to get to me. I didn’t want to see the same thing happen to Gage.

  Just like before, I yelled and put my hand up in the air, but this time, something did happen. I felt a rush, a pulling and tugging inside me, and then it released with a snap. The strange energy that had entered me a moment before fled my body, feeling like it was shooting from my palm. A fissure appeared in the air, tearing the fabric of reality right in front of Gage. It leaked sulfuric smoke and glowed red from deep beyond.

  Gage fell back a few steps in surprise. Unable to stop its momentum, the creature collided with the fissure and then seemed to be sucked into it.

  With a gasp, I stumbled backward, dropping my outstretched arm. The red slash disappeared with a snap, sealing instantly. The only evidence that it had been there at all was the tinge of sulfur that hung in the air.

  I stood frozen to the spot, still panting from the sprint through half of Midtown, unable to tear my gaze from the place the demon had vanished.

  Gage turned slowly, shadows still licking up and down his arms, sword clenched in his fist. There was a haunted look in his eyes as he took me in, almost as if he were seeing me for the first time. His gaze swept from my head down to my feet and back up again, but then he shook his head, and his face cleared of all emotion.

  With a flick of his wrist, the blade of his sword folded three times and then retracted into the handle, which he shoved into a sheath at his side.

  Walking up to the metal fence, his dark shadowy wings sprang from his back, and he looked over his shoulder for anyone watching before flying himself up and over with ease. The second his boots hit the hallowed earth, he flinched as if in pain, his wings disappearing instantly.

  “What just happened?” I asked when he reached me. I swayed a little as a strange wave of exhaustion rolled over me.

  Instead of answering, his brows knitted, and he brushed a clump of hair off my forehead, inspecting what I assumed was a wound. He prodded it lightly with his finger, and I flinched involuntarily.

  “Did I do that?” I pointed at the place where the demon had disappeared into the fissure.

  Gage glanced over his shoulder and then back at me. “No,” he said with authority. “Watchers can’t create portals, and I’ve never seen one that looked like that.”

  Relief rushed through me. I didn’t know how it all worked, but perhaps whoever, or whatever, sent the creature had suddenly called it home. If so, that was lucky timing for us.

  But if that’s what happened, then what was that energy burst I felt?

  Gage turned my arm to inspect another injury. I had a gash that was dripping blood. I probably got it when I tumbled down the stairs, stabbing myself with my own daggers like an idiot.

  “This one might need stitches,” he said.

  I knew I was banged up, and now that I wasn’t running for my life, all the bumps and bruises were starting to throb. All. Over. My. Body. I was also depleted of energy, but that was probably normal after an adrenaline rush. I’d get some stitches, heal, and recover, but figuring out what just happened was way more important at the moment.

  “Are you sure Watchers can’t open portals?” I pressed, looking back at the place the demon disappeared, because it kinda felt like some energy had burst out of me the second the rift was created, which was freaking me out.

  He grunted and then nodded. “Positive. We can’t create portals. Shades only get notified when one is about to open, Lumens can sense when they are near one, and only a Portal Master can close them. That’s it.”

  Portal Master? What was that?

  I narrowed my gaze, my thoughts suddenly drifting toward Gage’s involvement in today’s incident. “What were you doing outside of Lumen Academy right when we were attacked?”

  He sighed. “When I heard the demons were going to open a portal inside the academy, I had—”

  “You knew?” I reared back, ripping out of Gage’s grasp, a ball of disgust growing in my belly. “There were kids in there! People got hurt. Some Lumens may have even died. You knew it was going to happen and did nothing to stop it? Did nothing to warn them?”

  “I couldn’t get through,” Gage gritted out, and then ran a hand through his hair. He started to pace. “Once we declare our house affiliation, we’re not allowed on each other’s property anymore. Wards are put up around both Shade Tower and the Lumen Compound to keep the other side out.”

  “Don’t try to act like there was nothing you could have done. You could have warned someone. They could have evacuated the building,” I growled.

  “I—” Gage stopped pacing and clamped his mouth shut. A muscle flexed in his jaw as he ground his teeth together. “It’s just part of the job. Shades and Lumens aren’t friends—we’re enemies. You’d do well to remember that.”

  “So you just stand by while people get hurt?”

  His nostrils flared. I thought for sure he was about to say something, but he just glared at me.

  “I could never be part of something like that,” I spat. I was sick just thinking that my mother had made the decision to be a Shade. What could have possibly convinced her that was the right thing to do? Was she really shallow enough to be swayed by money and a fancy school? That didn’t sound like the person Gran told me about. But what did I really know about her?

  “Good. You aren’t cut out for it anyway,” he growled.

  I forced out a humorless laugh. It sounded a bit like a strangled hyena. “If that’s your idea of an insult, it’s weak.”

  Gage took a step toward me, crowding me. His chest puffed out, and there was a wild look in his stormy green eyes. I almost retreated, but instead held my ground, straightening my spine to my full height, which meant I only came up to Gage’s Adam’s apple. His eyes flared when I refused to back down, the green in his irises so bright they looked lit from within.

  Inhaling deeply, he held the breath for several beats before letting the air leak from between his lips. As his lungs deflated, his stony expression started to melt, as if his tough exterior was a façade he could no longer hold on to.

  “It wasn’t an insult,” he said softly. His accented voice rolled over me like a caress.

  A switch flipped inside me, and I went from furious to something altogether different in the span between breaths. Warmth blossomed in my chest as we stood no more than a foot apart, just staring at each other.

  “Why did you do it? Why did you choose to become a Shade?” I asked, my voice no louder than a whisper. So far, Gage had been a ball of contradictions, but it felt like there was something inside him that was good. He’d come to my aid more than once, and that was hard to reconcile with everything I knew about Shades.

  “When your father is the leader, it’s not a choice,” he answered honestly, and my heart bled for him. There was so much to that simple statement. I’d been told every Watcher got a choice on how they will live their life, which side they’ll fight for, but looking at Gage and seeing the conflict splashed across his face, I knew that wasn’t really true.

  Time stretched between us. Something raw and powerful started to grow, pulling us together like magnets. I didn’t understand it, but that didn’t make it any less real.

  Gage’s body tipped toward me, and I followed his lead. I raised a hand, my fingertips feathering over Gage’s high cheekbone, drifting up to brush a wisp of hair off his forehead.

  Lifting his own hand, he gently caught mine and tugged me closer. Our gazes collided and held.

  For a breath, a single moment in time, I felt like I saw him for who he truly was. It was a near perfect moment in which Gage wasn’t a Shade and I wasn’t a Watcher who hadn’t chosen her ho
use yet. A moment when we were just us.

  And then it was shattered.

  CHAPTER

  NINE

  “Tatum!” Drea’s shrill voice snapped me from my trance.

  Gage flinched, and I stumbled backward, away from whatever magnetic pull he had over me. A mask dropped over Gage’s features, shuttering whatever bit of vulnerability he’d just revealed to me.

  Spinning to face my friend, I sighed in relief that she was alive. She was covered in black soot and bleeding at the lip, but alive. Reaching onto the myriad of tattoos on her arm, she came away with a double-sided axe. With one mighty swing, she broke the chain locking the cemetery gates together and then stowed the weapon back on her body.

  Man, I need some magical tattoos asap. Except I needed ones with cookies and pizza.

  Gage and my moment had fizzled, and I was back to feeling pain throbbing throughout my limbs as Drea jogged over to us.

  “Get that stitched up.” Gage’s command washed over me before his wings snapped out of his back. Then he kicked off the ground and soared into the air, the darkening early evening sky only half-camouflaged his ascent.

  “Hey! You’ll be seen,” Drea hissed after him.

  Ignoring Gage’s hasty retreat, I threw myself at Drea, crushing her in a hug. She might be a super new friend, but we’d also been through a lot, and it felt like we’d grown close in this short time. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m glad you’re okay. Don’t ever do that again,” Drea scolded, pulling away from me and checking my wounds with a concerned look.

  “Did any of the kids get hurt?” My heart was in my throat as I waited for her to answer.