Awake in Shadows

by Eve Langlais

  “Like the zombies.”

  “The zombies are gone. It’s demons I need to watch out for now. After last night’s attack, it’s obvious they know I’m coming after them. I wasn’t supposed to remember.” She tapped her temple. “However, slowly and surely, memories are starting to leak. I remembered stuff today.”

  “Like?”

  “My dad. He gave me a sword.”

  “A sword?” The words were flat.

  “Not just any sword. A special one with a name.”

  “The fact you’re adding detail to the delusion doesn’t make it real, Adara. And I am frankly concerned about the fact you’re expanding on it. I’m afraid I can’t ignore it.”

  Fingers tense on the armrests of the chair, Adara queried, “Are you going to commit me?”

  “No. Not yet. Because I don’t think you’re a danger to anyone,” the doctor amended. “But I am going to have to add to your current meds. Which you are taking, right?”

  Adara nodded. “Every day like I’m supposed to. But they don’t make me feel any different.”

  “Then we obviously don’t have the right dosage yet.” The doctor scribbled on a different pad and tore off the sheet.

  Adara didn’t even look at it, simply stuffed the new prescription into her sweater pocket. “Dr. Bevin, can I ask you something? Why do you think I’m imagining everything?”

  She arched a brow. “Because, quite frankly, none of the things you describe exist.”

  “Are you really sure of that?” Adara asked.

  “Quite.”

  “Good, because that means when you turn around and look out the window, you’re not going to see the demon licking it.”

  “Really, Adara. We’re on the third floor. There is—” The sharp scream, while strident and unpleasant, was still the most awesome thing Adara had ever heard. As was the way her doctor scrambled out of her chair, hyperventilating and pointing as a very ugly demon with a beakish snout and a long, black tongue licked the window while staring with unblinking, beady, red eyes.

  “Guess you need meds, too,” Adara quipped just before the window shattered.

  Chapter Ten

  Slightly winded but recovering fast, Logan loitered outside the brownstone he’d watched Adara enter. He’d almost lost her on her way over. How one petite woman managed to move so fast without running, he didn’t know. But he had to take shortcuts to keep up.

  Once she reached the shrink’s office, he’d parked himself across the street and vowed to work on his cardio. A slip of a woman shouldn’t outpace a werewolf.

  Then again, Adara wasn’t just any woman.

  No one knew what she was. Her scent remained unique. However, the fact that she smelled good wasn’t the reason he kept his eye on the window on the third floor. Its bright light framed a woman at its center. The doctor.

  One hundred percent human. He’d checked the therapist out after the first time Adara saw her. He’d then had his pack do some surveillance on Dr. Bevin, and he knew Titus had run a background check, as well. Everything turned up normal, which meant to say, the doctor had no involvement in the supernatural community whatsoever.

  Adara was safe for the moment, but last night’s attempted kidnapping proved that her problems weren’t over yet. Especially given that he’d just found out the three demons the cops arrested never made it to the station.

  The paddy wagon was found, empty of prisoners, and the officers dead. According to his friend, the car—when discovered—had appeared torn up from the inside. The bodies of the cops? A mangled mess.

  Extremely bad news. Demons not following the rules were unpredictable. Dangerous.

  Fun.

  He weighed that against watching Adara. On the one hand, he could have tried to track the fiends, returning to the murder scene and seeing if he could trace their scent.

  Or, he could save time and annoyance by sticking close to Adara and waiting for the demons to make their next move.

  Tedious, but smarter as it protected Adara at the same time. Because he had no doubt they’d be back. This time, he’d be ready.

  A long, black Lincoln purred to a stop across from his hiding place.

  Logan grimaced as the window rolled down. “What do you want?”

  Titus didn’t bother with niceties either. “You let her leave.”

  “I couldn’t very well stop her once she decided to go.”

  “Actually, you could have, but I’m going to wager you didn’t even try.”

  He rolled a shoulder. “So what if I didn’t? We can’t lock her up like some china doll.”

  “Why not? She is breakable.”

  “She’s also tough, and she needs to remember that. She’s been doing so good lately. Or hadn’t you noticed she’s no longer flinching and cowering all the time?”

  “I noticed. False bravado,” Titus grumbled. “She’s not ready yet to face true enemies head on. And mark my words, her enemies are actively hunting her. The attack at the club is but the beginning. Speaking of which, I just heard from Stefan, those demons—”

  “Escaped. I heard. Why I’m standing here. So you can mosey along like a good vampire. The big dog’s got this.”

  His words didn’t even earn the hint of a smile. “They will try again.”

  Logan pushed off from the wall. “No shit, Sherlock. It’s what I was counting on, but it ain’t gonna happen if you’re here yapping at me. Scram. I got this covered.”

  “Why not take a break and let an expert take over?” Titus exited the car and tapped the roof to indicate it should move on.

  “Expert?” Logan snorted. “You’re so pampered, I doubt you can even catch your own food anymore unless it lands in your lap. Need my help, old man? How about I stick out a paw and trip someone for you.”

  “I am getting tired of the insults,” Titus hissed, stepping closer.

  “And I’m tired of your holier-than-thou attitude. So, piss off. I told you, I got this.”

  Things would have evolved into something physical if the sound of a window shattering didn’t interrupt.

  Whirling, their gazes both sought the third floor in time to see the ass end of a demon entering a window.

  “Ah, fuck.” Logan didn’t waste time stripping. As he bolted across the street, he held his wolf off long enough to open the front door of the building, and then he let loose.

  Seams ripped. Buttons flew. His shredded garments hit the floor as he bolted up the stairs, four paws giving him excellent purchase.

  He didn’t need a mirror to know what he looked like. Wild, untamed wolf, the kind with shaggy fur, dark as night, eyes that glowed, and a wicked snarl that made those weaker than him piss themselves in fright. Which, he might add, wasn’t all that cool because…urine stank.

  Above, he could hear shrill screams and crashing sounds. Hold on, Adara. Almost there.

  The door at the top proved to be solid oak. He had to waste time and energy changing shapes to open it. Naked as a baby, he moved across the small vestibule to a second door leading to the inner office and flung it open.

  His gaze met chaos.

  A demon sporting wings, a long, barbed tail, and reeking of unbathed animal that had rolled in shit filled the room. The rankness was complemented by the second demon, who appeared to be emitting gaseous vapors like rotten eggs.

  Shit-demon grappled with Adara, whose lips were pressed into a thin line of determination. She had no weapon. No animal to call. No teeth or even claws. Yet she held her own, grimly keeping the monster at bay.

  The screaming was from the shrink, who stood in a corner, eyes wide behind her glasses, her tonsils vibrating with the pitch of her yells.

  Useless.

  At the window, he noted Titus—the fucker having taken a shortcut straight up—handling another winged demon.

  Three fiends, possibly more en route, and Logan was ogling rather than acting.

  Since his dick was only a mighty sword in the bedroom, he risked exhaustion and flipped into his
wolf again.

  Just in time, because the three fiends had friends. Two more demons suddenly dove through the window, knocking Titus aside. Probably one of the only times Logan had seen the man stumble.

  He would have grinned if he could have, but his muzzle only allowed a snarl as he lunged at the demon dragging Adara in the direction of the window.

  Fuck no, you ain’t. He barreled into the beast, teeth snapping and tearing. A burning ichor filled his mouth as he managed to rend leathery skin.

  Ick. Gross. His wolf gagged, but he didn’t let the foul taste deter him. He kept attacking, aiming for the tendons in the joints. A disabled monster was as good as a dead one.

  Adara tried to help, swinging a lamp at the demon’s head, only managing to draw its attention when the glass shade broke.

  “Uh-oh,” she exclaimed before squeaking as demon claws grabbed for her.

  Only, she didn’t panic. To Logan’s amazement, she grabbed the wrist of the monster and yanked it towards her, using its own weight to propel it into the wall. It hit hard, and while the demon was stunned, Logan made his move, clamping his teeth where the neck met the spine.

  Crunch. The body hit the floor, and Logan moved on to the next. His mouth already burned, which made the next chomp of leather and ichor easier.

  The tide of the fight changed as demons began to drop. But did that stop the screaming?

  Nope.

  Even when four demon bodies were melting into puddles of goo, it kept going.

  Until finally, Titus exclaimed, “Enough! Sleep.” The force of the command projected and hit Logan like a brick.

  Don’t mind if I do. He hit the floor, snoring.

  Chapter Eleven

  Back at his house, Titus pinched the bridge of his nose as the doctor he’d mistakenly rescued continued to rail.

  “It was real. It can’t be real. Maybe her hallucinations are contagious.” Dr. Bevin, who couldn’t be left behind to speak to authorities or the media, paced Titus’s living room, her blue suit rumpled, her hair falling out of its bun.

  In direct contrast, Adara appeared perfectly relaxed on his couch, the giant head of the wolf resting on her lap. The damn thing could barely stay awake after the fight and used his animal wiles to get Adara to stroke him.

  Lucky bastard.

  “This is all a dream. But what if it’s not? Then that’s really a werewolf, and you’re a—a—” the doctor stuttered.

  “Dr. Bevin, you need to calm yourself,” Titus said for the umpteenth time.

  “Calm myself?” she shrieked. “There were demons. In my office!” The last part emerged quite shrilly.

  Adara didn’t help matters. “I told you they were real.” The words were taunting, but it was probably the smirk that set the doctor off.

  “No, they’re not.”

  “Yes, they are.” Adara dumped the wolf off her lap to jump to her feet. “You saw them.”

  The doctor paced, her breath panting. “No, I didn’t. That was a hallucination.”

  “From what?”

  “Fumes. Maybe there’s a gas leak.”

  Adara snorted. “There was no leak, and you know it.”

  “You must have drugged me,” the doctor accused.

  It didn’t daunt Adara one bit. Rather, she retorted, “Wow, now who’s trying to repress the truth? Admit it, you were wrong. Demons exist. I am being hunted. Which means there’s nothing wrong with me.”

  “Then there must be something wrong with me,” moaned Dr. Bevin.

  Adara snapped her fingers. “Don’t you dare start a pity party.”

  “Then what do you suggest?” sobbed the doctor, who really wasn’t taking any of it well. Even Adara didn’t scream so much the first time she encountered the supernatural.

  “I suggest you handle it. Consider yourself awake to the real world now. It’s hard at first. Don’t forget I know all about running face-first into the truth.”

  When Titus first met Adara, she had been missing memories, and it didn’t help that there was a spell that kept making her forget the sub-world of magic and creatures that weren’t supposed to exist as fast as she discovered it.

  “I feel like I’m losing my mind.” The doctor wilted, hands pressed to her temples.

  “Your mind is perfectly fine. If you’d stop having hysterics, you’d realize nothing has changed in your life,” Titus interjected.

  “Not changed? That’s fresh coming from you. I know who you are.” The doctor jabbed a finger at him. “You’re Titus. The vampire.”

  “At your service.” He executed a quick bow. “And you are Dr. Kyla Bevin.”

  “Kyla? Cute name,” Adara noted.

  “Can you both stop acting like this is normal? This,” Kyla paused to look at the giant wolf, “is not normal. I want to know what’s going to happen to me.”

  “We’re not contagious,” Titus remarked.

  Adara snickered. “Can you imagine, the vampire flu? The doctor’s orders would be to stay in your coffin and drink plenty of bloody fluids.”

  The mirth did nothing to correct the doctor’s expression. “This isn’t funny. Nor am I stupid. I know about the secret. No way are you letting me leave this house alive.”

  “So melodramatic. I am not going to kill you, Kyla. But…” Titus paused for effect. “You are going to forget what happened in your office.”

  “I am more than happy to do that. No one would believe me anyhow.” The therapist’s lips turned down.

  “Which leads me to the next point, no one can ever know.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I don’t need my license suspended.” She shook her head.

  “I know you won’t tell anyone because I will be erasing that memory.”

  “Say what? Oh, hell no.” The doctor lost all semblance of calm and poise. A low growl entered her words. Kyla retreated, putting herself as far from Titus as possible. “Stay away from me. You are not doing any vampire mojo on my ass.”

  “It won’t hurt,” Titus remarked.

  “I’ve heard that one before,” Kyla mumbled. “Answer is still no.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  “We’ll see about that. Adara…” The doctor turned to plead her case to what she saw as the weak link in the room. “Don’t let him mess with my head.”

  Having been the victim of memory tampering, Adara felt an obligation. “Do we have to, Titus? I mean, I’m sure she won’t tell. I’ve been telling her about my life for weeks, and she never turned me in.”

  Titus couldn’t help but bark, “You’ve been doing what?”

  “Confessing to my shrink.” Adara blew a noise through her lips. “As if you didn’t know. You’ve been spying on me everywhere.”

  “Not during your sessions.” A weak defense, but one he felt obliged to make.

  “You’re lying.”

  “It wouldn’t have been right to eavesdrop on your innermost thoughts and feelings.”

  “So you mean all those times I called you a jerk were wasted?” Her lips curved.

  “You forgot arrogant, pushy know-it-all,” Kyla interrupted. “Now, if you two are done flirting—”

  “I am not flirting,” gasped Adara.

  “—I’d like us to deal with more serious things.”

  But Adara had a one-track mind. “I wasn’t flirting.”

  Yes, she was. It warmed Titus’s barely beating heart.

  He took a seat, hoping to relax the nervous doctor. Apparently, it was too much to hope she’d remain in her silent, stunned state when they fled the building and left behind the puddled remains of the demons they killed.

  Too many. A number of deaths that really risked being noticed. Who would dare do such a thing? The very crime of it meant he’d have to tell some of the other groups.

  The Lycans, led by Logan in this sector, would decide if it merited notifying the wolf king. The local packs had alphas, but to rule them all, they did have royalty.

  The elves mostly kept to themse
lves. However, given they were a delicacy in Hell, they’d want to know if demonic hunters were on the loose.

  Titus could quicken things by notifying the steward for the highest governing council, led by one who still called himself a god. Convening a meeting would simplify matters even as it complicated them.

  Tucking his hands behind his back, Titus asked, “Before my arrival, did the demons happen to say anything?”

  “They can talk?” Kyla squeaked.

  “These were the grunting kind,” Adara supplied. “They weren’t trying to hurt me, though, just grab.”

  “So their intent was to kidnap.” Meaning that, like the other night, someone wanted to snare Adara.

  “Kidnap you, but they would have killed me,” Dr. Bevin sobbed.

  Having had enough, Titus strode to her, ignoring how she held up her fingers in the sign of a cross. Her eyes stared, wide in fright, and he whispered, “Quiet.”

  The sobbing stopped, and he almost sighed in relief. “Where were we?” He turned back to Adara, only to discover she’d resumed her position as the wolf’s pillow. Titus just barely managed to control a grimace. It was rather unseemly of a vampire his age to be jealous of the fingers threading fur.

  “What I want to know is how they keep finding me,” Adara said. “Those ones tonight were a lot dumber than the ones I met at the club dressed in drag. Yet they knew which window to break.”

  “Because they obviously had someone guiding them.” Titus frowned as he spoke aloud.

  “Would that person have to be close by?” Adara paused in stroking the overly large dog—the shame of it, a wolf on his couch—to ask.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. He’d certainly not sensed anyone nearby manipulating events.

  “Someone guiding them implies mind control. Is it possible? Could they do that to me or you?”

  His lips pressed tight. “Maybe. I don’t know. My demon knowledge is still somewhat limited.”

  “Isn’t there a book?” While said tremulously, the question from the doctor was a good one.

  “There are many books but finding one that is accurate has proved challenging. The truth likes to hide amidst the lies.” But Stefan should know which ones to study. Or would he lead Titus astray? His man had been cagey of late. Missing more often than not. It galled that Titus couldn’t ask his most trusted man to search for clues, but the fact of the matter was that he was beginning to question Stefan’s loyalty.