The audience began to cheer and chant. “Extinguish the light, kill the pretender, the bringer of the light. Kill the pretender.”
What the hell? Keva mouthed the words not wanting to bring any more attention to the fact that she was behind the curtain. There was no doubt that she was the pretender, but she wasn’t the bringer of the light. That would have to be one or all the Kur’iks. Why, oh why, was it always her?
There was no answer to that question.
The curtain rose.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The smile she was missing slid naturally over Keva’s lips. She was in work mode now. That’s where she would stay until something happened to challenge her. The lights in the auditorium dimmed, but she could still see her audience. An audience of all men. Some were nothing but Shadows clinging to a chair, others were humanoid-shaped Shadows. The ones who thought they were untouchable wore their human shapes no hint of the darkness to be seen. Those were the ones she would focus on.
“Welcome one, welcome all!” Her voice was loud and carried through the auditorium She greeted them with a warm smile, then a bow to reinforce her welcome
“You have come to see the pretender.” A laugh of confidence followed those words. Now, she lowered her voice enough to suggest a whisper meant only for the person who could hear it.
“Alas, I am merely a pretender, but you. Yes, you have a chance to unmask me. The world has been waiting with bated breath to learn how I do what I do. The big boys of magic cast their eyes towards me with envy, but only you have the chance to bring the greatest show on earth down around my ears.” She might have stolen part of that last line. Usually, the dead stayed dead, so it should be okay.
Thunderous applause met her ears. Everyone liked a good show even the Shadows. Sitting in the last row were Detective Smith and Jones. That really didn’t surprise her, what did, was detective Oliver standing by the exit sign munching on popcorn.
“Some of you are skeptics, my favorite kind of audience member. I’m sure you checked the seats to make sure there were no invisible wires hanging around. Did you look for remote-controlled devices under your seats or your neighbors’ seats? If not do so, you’ll thank me later.” She waited buffing her nails against her robe, looking like she had nothing but time.
“Anything? Did anyone find anything?” There were shouted no’s and shakes of heads. “I really hate when my staff forgets to put out the remote-controlled cars. Still,” she gave a small laugh. “I think we can have fun without them.”
She sized the audience up and picked out her first mark. Wait, she meant helper.
“In the third row, there is a man with black hair wearing a blue button-down. I sense that he wants to be part of the show. How can I deny him the chance at fame and fortune?” She stopped to give them time to identify who she was talking about. Taking her time, she walked the stage meeting eyes as she did. The Shadow in question wasn’t young or old. He battened down all his hatches sure that there was no way she could break through his line of defense. He was the perfect first mark.
The younger Shadows would experience momentary fear if she was successful. The older ones would preen because she chose to stay away from them.
“Now what could he have that I want?” she sent out a thin beam of energy. Her target was already picked out, but it wouldn’t be a show if she didn’t mess with his mind in the process. “Nice cuff links.”
He held up his wrists to discover the one cuff link was undone. He made a show of fastening it and checking the other.
“I think you’re a bit attached to those links. What about the tie clip?” She played with it jiggling just a little. When his hand covered it, she stopped. “Seems you’re attached to everything except your wallet.” She held it up to gasps of amazement. There was a low murmur that went through the Shadows. She could almost hear them accuse her of being the real deal.
She opened the wallet taking out his driver’s license. “Charles, this is a really nice pic. I hate mine. I’ll give this back at the end of the show along with the other wallets that wanted to come to visit me.” She held up five more wallets that she picked and stole at random.
“Now you’re wondering if that was a trick or do I have real superhero powers. My only reply is if I could be a superhero why would I be here?” They don’t make money and need day jobs. I’m just not that altruistic.
“You ever heard the kids when they chortle ‘made you look’? That’s the trick while your eyes are somewhere else, I’m working my magic elsewhere. Now that you know one of my secrets you can look for it next time, you’re one step closer to exposing me.”
“These are nothing but parlor tricks. Prove to us you’re worth exposing.”
She waited until he sat down. “I have to agree with the man in the green shirt. Why should you believe me? What can I do to trick you into believing I am the real deal? I wonder.” Her finger tapped her lower lip as she closed her eyes putting on her best thinking face.
When the audience gasped in surprise, she opened her eyes.
“Well, I can always do that.” The man who mouthed her was now being suspended upside down. The loose coins and his wallet were free floating around his head. She would have never done that without Kayden as her anchor and her mate.
“That can’t be enough, can it? Will someone look for an invisible wire? Do you think he is doing this to himself for recognition?”
“There are no wires holding him up,” a helpful Shadow shouted.
“Then it must be me. But how?” She looked over the crowd giving them a look. They were growing restless they wanted their hands on her. Each was watching her like a cat waiting for a mouse to emerge from a hole. They were calculating just how much power she possessed. The grin she gave them was wicked meant to send them over the edge.
With a bat of her lashes she added four more Shadows to her show suspending them upside down. Each stronger than the one before.
“Enough,” the Shadow that wanted her dead called out. “Tonight, we will win the first victory for darkness by ridding the universe of the Kur’iks in this room and the brand they carry.”
That brought them back to the tattoo. She looked around hoping for the trump of a horn as the heavenly host appeared to her. They missed their cue, and she was on her own. The Shadows stood, they took their cue from the Shadow trying to kill Keva. All light around them disappeared as they took the form of shadows. When the first shadow moved the others followed. Entertainment turned into war.
“Great show.” Kayden’s back was to hers as they faced off against Shadows storming the stage. “I was hoping for a second act.”
“This will have to do.” She raised a shield to protect them from a fireball. It wasn’t thrown to hurt, just to distract and measure. Her shield was thick enough to foil the attack without indicating how much power she had to use.
Several Shadows winked out, the Kur’iks began to disappear.
“Seems our final battle will not be in the theater; Kelly will appreciate that.” The world around her went dark.
She woke up in a world so pure she had to hide her eyes. Still, she winced unable to get away from it.
“Purity is felt with the soul not seen with the eyes.” The brightness was turned down until she was able to look without being blinded by her soul or her eyes.
“This place is beautiful.”
“I always thought so. It stood for millions of years until we took it to a different plane. Those around us could not develop with so much purity inhabiting them.”
“That doesn’t seem fair that you were forced to hide your brightness so another’s darkness would show.”
“You keep thinking that the world is fair, it is not. Good things happen to bad people and the opposite. It was our choice to leave one we are thankful to have made.”
He turned around so she could get a better look at him. In the end, she decided to call them, they. They were gender neutral.
“We don’t believe in th
e roles of gender you have assigned. The one who creates life is male and the one who bears it is female. I have never seen a male create life alone. Enough of that, it’s not why I have brought you here.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“You were looking for enlightenment from the heavenly host. I took their place.”
“Can you stop the Shadows?”
“Only you can do that. Come closer.” His eyes were mirrors into her soul. His hair was pure silver while the wings he spread were whiter than new snow with silver highlights. He whispered in her ear, the power that rushed through her was too much she went to her knees before passing out at his feet.
“Keva, wake up.” She was being unevenly jolted something her stomach didn’t like.
“What’s happening?” She was on Kayden’s shoulder while he ran.
“You pulled a disappearing act. Then suddenly you were back, passed out in the thick of the fight.”
She lifted her head. “Run faster we’re being chased.” Ignoring the headache from the five-day drinking spree she obviously went on she managed to start building her defenses. The ball of fire she aimed out was at the ground. What’s good for the goose and all that. The dirt behind them widened with cracks. One wrong move.
She cackled because it was time for her to act old just in case she didn’t live long enough to get old. When it was ready, she threw another ball of power aimed at the feet of the Shadows still chasing them.
Kayden jumped something. By the time, he set her down she was fighting to keep from throwing up all over him. His muscled shoulders did a job on her stomach.
“This won’t last long, but it will us give some time to breathe.”
“What happened? Where did you go?”
“A part of me thinks it was heaven. The more rational part of my brain denies that. I think I might have met one of the beings the Shadows called light. They were made of purity that was brighter than any light, I’m not exactly sure how to phrase it. They said something to me, but I don’t know what. My brain was fried. So much for the help, I was hoping for.”
“Don’t give up. We can still win.”
Maybe, but she was beginning to think today wasn’t about winning. “Did you see what happened to detective Oliver?”
“He slipped out when the fighting started. Detective’s Smith and Jones did the same.”
“I’m not surprised by the last two.” She stood slowly checking her body as she went. The final battle was coming up. The war wasn’t going to be over she could feel it in her bones. She’d examine that later. Right now, she needed to know what was expected of her. She felt like she was in a cave with man-eating spiders crawling overhead loaded down with one spell, that didn’t work all that well.
She looked to her right to see Locke and Ava standing back to back. The same on her right with Tristan and Mira. Key and Ven stood further away but closer to the wall that the Shadows were beating against. Cade and Taris were on the other side back to back.
When the wall came down, they would make their last stand. She wanted to thank them, tell them how much they meant to her. There wasn’t time for a eulogy the first crack in the wall appeared. Her eyes fastened onto the portion of the wall where she knew the Shadow that wanted her dead was waiting. He almost succeeded last time. This time there were no children to trade her life for. Although, she’d trade it in a heartbeat to keep Kayden alive.
The wall broke while her heart thundered in her chest.
Chapter Twenty-five
The first energy ball thrown at her hit her shields with such force that she stumbled on her feet. Return fire came from the tips of her fingers in a blink of an eye. She and the Shadow traded fire neither hurting the other as their families fought a grisly war around them.
“Do you realize that I am just playing with you?”
Why must the bad guys talk? She ignored him as she marshaled her weapons setting them up like field itinerary ready to be fired when the real war started.
When the Shadow took his eyes off her, she sent some of her forces to fight the other Shadows or to hold up shields that were faltering.
The Shadow she was becoming to think of as hers bowed his head to her.
“You’re very good at deception.”
“What can I say, Now You See Me, inspired me.” She whipped up a card with a bomb attached as the ace of spades sending it into a group of Shadows. The explosion was music to her ears. The damage done made her mouth hang open. She didn’t have that much power.
Her Shadow flung several energy bombs her way making her stumble. She retreated giving up ground. Kayden came with her. He didn’t fight, it was almost as if all he was an extension of her. He moved with her, stayed behind the shields she built and waited. Anytime now, but she couldn’t say that with the Shadow listening to every word.
“You won’t win.” He wasn’t talking to her, but to himself. She ignored him as she looked for another spot to set up her defense.
They made their way to higher ground. She noticed that Kayden was actively collecting her energy after she sent it out. In the past, he would let the shards of energy return to him before passing it to her. Now every time he passed her energy it held more power than before she sent it out. She was charging up like a battery afraid that too much would overpower her knocking her out cold. Like a buildup of electricity.
When they reached higher ground, she realized she was in a circle. To one side was a relic that almost reminded her of Stonehenge. Her Shadow still nameless stalked her.
“The fight ends here.” She nodded it was always going to come down to him and her. That’s why he tried to recruit her and then kill her.
They battled back and forth silently. When the bullets were coming from your mind, there was no need to move around. Although they did. It was to keep the other on their toes. Keva was looking for weak spots, places he hadn’t had time to reinforce.
An unanticipated shot at Kayden rocked her. The smile on his face said he found her weak spot. He sent another shot of energy at Kayden as she rushed to tighten her shields. When Kayden went down her heart almost stopped. Why wasn’t he fighting back? She cried out but there was no answer.
One last shot of energy from the Shadow stopped Kayden’s heart. She fell to her knees knowing it was a death sentence. She would gladly die with him.
“Get up love, get up.” She shook him but he was silent.
“You get up. It would be a shame to see a worthy opponent die on her knees.”
When she looked at the Shadow, he stumbled back. “Your eyes! What did you do to your eyes?”
She ignored him, her world was dead, and he was the reason. She stood dropping the cloak.
“No!” His scream was long and terrifying. His wide eyes were laser-focused on the tattoo on her arm. “That’s impossible.”
She ran a hand over it feeling Kayden’s pulse in the symbols on her arms. Her fingers began to fly over them moving them, rearranging them into some pattern she had never seen before.
“No, stop. You don’t know what you're doing.” This time when he threw an energy ball her way, she was able to repel it with just her mind. No hands needed to work invisible runes.
“You have to stop.”
“You should have stopped before you took him.” She never noticed her hair growing to land around her shoulder in waves of pure white with streaks of silver that caught the sun in them. When her hair floated around her shoulders, she didn’t stop.
There would be no justice in the world for what she lost but this Shadow would never exist again.
“Bringer of light,” he screamed, “you will meet the bringer of darkness.”
Her fingers stopped moving. Kayden floated in the air his shirt disintegrating on his body. He shook before purity and light exploded from him making the whole landscape brighter than the sun at noon. There were screams and begging voices as the Shadows were obliterated leaving nothing behind but humans that were either sick or now officially
dead.
Most of the humans wouldn’t make it they were dying when they chose to be part of the Shadows. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. She pulled herself using her fingers to dig into the ground until her body covered Kayden’s.
“Death find me fast. I wish to be reunited with the love of my life.” Time no longer held meaning.
*~*~*~*
“Are you sure she isn’t dead?” A voice she vaguely remembered whispered.
“Be quiet or leave.” That was a voice she never heard speak in anger.
“Is he dead?”
“Get out all of you.” The voice was practically vibrating, with irritation or anger she couldn’t be sure. She was sure that he never answered the question of was he dead.
Her eyes rolled up behind her closed lids as she let death take her. She would find him even if she had to search every plane of existence.
“I rather like you, you’re plucky. They chose the right person to be the bringer of light.” The male who took her to the plane where his planet used to reside spoke to her.
She stopped the words making her mad. “You can take your bringer of light and stuff it in the pipe that I’m sure you’re too pure to smoke and choke on it!” The last ended with a yell. “He’s dead, did you know that was going to happen when you were sending me on some peyote filled dream to get tattoos and other things I never heard of before? Did you know I would lose the love of my life?”
“Is he the love of your life or just a male you clung to so you wouldn’t be alone?”
“In another lifetime you might be funny. In this one, you’re just pitiful.”
“You may be right,” he walked beside her.
The Wolf & The Pretender Page 15
