The Shadow Project

by Cecilia Dominic

  He shook his head. "Do you want to know what it was about? We were trying to figure out a media strategy for when the CLS leak went public, as we knew it would."

  "So, the materials you were talking about…"

  "Was a press release we were going to give to Ted. Damage control."

  "Oh." Relief and ridiculousness fought for dominance in my chest.

  "As for the kiss, you were giving me mouth-to-mouth," he said. "Right, that's all it was."

  Had he, in his unconscious state, had the sensation of two puzzle pieces locking together, too? I didn't dare ask. I'd already made too many incorrect assumptions.

  Sir Raleigh hopped down from my shoulder and slid under the desk. Smart kitty, although what did he sense coming? Or maybe he felt as done with the day as I was.

  "I'm leaving," I said, again stepping back from the precipice I felt us both heading to. "You're obviously in no shape to engage in logical discourse. Considering you almost died twice in the last twenty-four hours."

  "And you saved me."

  "And I saved you. Damn straight." I crossed my arms and attempted to look stern, but he smiled.

  "Damn straight," he said and placed one hand behind my head. "Thank you."

  I looked into his dark gray eyes, which had lost some of their hard inquisitiveness. Now he seemed to ponder what my behavior would be if he were to—

  He brought my face closer to his, and I didn't pull back. I had my own experiment to perform. Could I tolerate kissing a gargoyle? Just kissing, I told myself. Just for the sake of knowledge.

  When our lips met, that sensation happened again, but this time with the level of satisfaction of putting the final piece into a puzzle I didn't know I'd so desperately wanted to finish. Our bodies fit together perfectly, and sensations I hadn't experienced in centuries raced along my limbs and to my core. I braced myself against him, and the threads of his shirt against his hard, warm chest made the situation more sensual.

  All too soon, he pulled away.

  "Thank you," he said again.

  "You're…welcome?"

  "Thank you for saving my life. And for showing it was just mouth-to-mouth. Now I know the difference." With a wink, he turned and went into his office, closing the door behind him.

  Someone raced down the stairs, and the door burst open.

  Kestrel stood there, tears running down her cheeks, and her chest heaving. "Where's Uncle Lawrence? My mom is here, and my parents are having an awful fight."

  Lawrence came out of his office, having changed into one of his ubiquitous buttoned-down shirts. "Where are they?"

  "In the lab. Doctors Cimex and Francis are up there, too. They're all having a terrible argument."

  Corey and Selene came down the stairs, their expressions grim.

  "What happened?" Lawrence asked.

  "Apparently there was some sort of laboratory gathering this evening, and someone put something in the wine," Corey said.

  "They're all up there accusing each other of being the vector leak," Selene added. "Whatever they ingested, it's reducing their inhibitions."

  "What do we do?" I asked.

  "We have to separate and calm them," Selene said. "But there aren't that many of us."

  "Or counter the spell," I told her and the others. "Something brought Beverly and Cimex back here."

  "Could Latonya have planned all this?" Lawrence asked. "It's almost when we were supposed to meet her."

  I called Sir Raleigh out from under the desk, where he'd been curled up. "Can you go upstairs and find out who's driving the magic? Let me hear what they're saying?"

  I had a suspicion, but I needed to check. Now that I knew Lawrence and John were innocent, that left one person with a motive, someone I'd avoided accusing in my mind—Beverly Graves. I didn't want it to be her, but she'd been working on a shifter disrupter, as Corey and Lawrence had talked about when I'd discovered Sir Raleigh's talent at eavesdropping. Plus, she desperately wanted her daughter to develop some sort of magical talent, and she'd demonstrated she was willing to do almost anything to accomplish it, including making a bargain with a Fae.

  I held up my hand as Sir Raleigh related to me what he was hearing.

  "I told you to bring them to the prison room," Beverly was saying.

  "They aren't here," Latonya replied. "I've done all I can. Do I look like I can make them materialize out of thin air?"

  "No, call them or something."

  "Fine. Wait, what is that cat doing here? Ow!"

  The voices stopped, and a dark streak came down the stairs. Sir Raleigh twined around my calves, and I rubbed his head.

  "Good thing we came early," I said. "It would have been a trap."

  "Set by…?" Selene asked.

  "Let's go up and see."

  Before I took a step, the sound of a gunshot echoed through the mostly brick-and-stone building.

  "Not again," I groaned.

  26

  My favorite part of a good English mystery is the drawing room reveal scene, where the detective shows his cleverness in outing the murderer, putting together all the clues in a way that indicates there can't be any other solution. I loved how everything got wrapped up in a neat little bow, often with a confession. And then Hercule Poirot would have his matched eggs, or Lord Peter Wimsey would allow the murderer to take the gentleman's way out…

  That wasn't going to happen here.

  First, we'd had to sneak in, then duck for cover. Second, instead of a drawing room, we had the main lab, where equipment lay strewn about, and I could still hear the tinkling of glass and the dripping of some liquid that could have led to a level three contamination lockdown, but no one cared anymore.

  The level of chaos exceeded that of most English mysteries. Cimex stood, wide eyed, his gun leveled at anything that moved. Lawrence and I crouched behind an overturned metal table, and I doubted it would be thick enough to stop a bullet should one end up coming our way. Selene and Corey peeked out from the secure storage lab. Good, no one had seen them, at least not that I could tell.

  John had grabbed Kestrel the second we walked in and ushered her into the hallway.

  Latoya Francis and Beverly Graves huddled behind another table, their location evident by their continued whispered arguing.

  "Give it up, Beverly," I called, softly. "I know what you did. What you're doing."

  "I don't know what you're talking about." Anger laced her words.

  "Lucius, can you please put the gun down?" Lawrence asked. "It's not going to do anyone any good if you shoot us."

  Finally, Cimex lowered the weapon, but he didn't release it. We all stood, slowly with hands up. A hush descended over the room.

  "Beverly, you're the one who leaked the vector," I said. "You knew the lock to the storage unit was broken. John told you. And you're the only one who had reason. The Shadow Project."

  She flinched when I named it. "Please, not here. Not now," she begged and glanced at her daughter, who peeked around the door.

  "Mom?" Kestrel's face crumpled in confusion. "Mom, what does she mean?"

  "I did it for you," she said. "I did it so you could find your powers, find what you were supposed to be, and have more besides."

  "What?" Kestrel started to come in. John stopped her motion but not her words. "I thought you said it didn't matter, that you were happy for me to be mundane, if that was all right with me. And it is. I'm happy without having to deal with the pressures that you and Da—" Her voice cracked on the syllable. She took a deep breath. "That you and Dad had to deal with, being such a powerful witch and wizard."

  "I am fine with whoever you wanted to be. But I wanted you to have a choice." Beverly took a deep, shuddering breath.

  "But did you?" I asked. "We found the protocol, Beverly. We found what you wanted to try on your own daughter."

  "What protocol?" Kestrel asked. "Oh, god, the shots. It was the shots you wanted me to take, wasn't it? It wasn't about my allergies at all. And the vitamins you've had me on
for years."

  Her voice rose in pitch, and Cimex brought the weapon up.

  "Please stay calm, all of you," Lawrence said. "It's not safe here." He inclined his head toward Cimex, who blinked, confused. What had happened to him?

  Oh, gods, the soul-eater? No, that creature would be weakened. I did my best to read Cimex and found deep disappointment in what had happened. And…a deep, unrequited crush on Beverly. Oh, Hades.

  "Yes, Beverly, what was the protocol?" I asked, to keep someone talking. "What exactly were you going to do with all those samples, with the essence of so many paranormals?"

  "I was going to create an angel," she said, and now a strange glint came into her eyes. If Cimex had lost his mind in the moment, Beverly had been hiding a deep, warped sense of reality for years. She continued, "A being that has the speed of a were, the cunning of a vampire, and the magic of a Fae, all wrapped up in the cleverness of a witch. My witch. My Kestrel. And I wasn't alone. I had the help of—"

  A shot split the air, and we all ducked. Beverly clutched her stomach, and horror crossed her features. The glint left her eyes, and she looked down.

  "What… What happened to me?" She crumpled to the ground, and John and Kestrel rushed to kneel beside her.

  Corey managed to get the gun away from Cimex, and I knelt on the other side of Beverly along with John.

  "Reine, please, you have to help her," Kestrel begged. "You can heal her, can't you?"

  I placed my hands on top of Beverly's. Sir Raleigh hopped down from my shoulder and sniffed, then looked up at me, his little face somber.

  "I'm afraid not. The bullet has done too much damage."

  Beverly shook her head. "I promise I wouldn't have done anything without your consent, Sweetheart. But I need to come clean. I did steal the sample. I did bring it to my contact at Cabal, hoping they could turn it into something useful."

  Cabal. Robert Cannon. I'd have some words for him the next time we met.

  Beverly coughed, and blood coated her tongue.

  "Reine, please!" Kestrel clutched my arm, wide-eyed. "Please, I'll give you anything. My firstborn, anything."

  I remembered others looking at me like she did, pleading with desperation for the lives of their loved ones. My coven co-leader, devastated over the imminent loss of her child. My brother, faced with a life of exile because I couldn't heal his cheek. Countless others who thought a powerful creature like me could do anything… I couldn't save them, and I couldn't save her.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I truly am, but I cannot extend the thread of life that the Fates have already cut short. Spend your last moments with her truly being with her. It's the last gift you can give your mother."

  "Are you sure?" Selene asked when I joined her on the other side of the room. We walked out of the lab and into the hallway. I leaned against the brick wall, seeking solace from the blocks that had once been living riverbed clay.

  I nodded. "I can't heal a mortal wound. Never have been able to. If I could, do you think I would have bothered to study medicine?"

  "Good point. What about him?" She indicated Cimex, who walked from the lab in front of Corey, who guided him. "And the soul-eater."

  "We know it's getting scary strong. I need to find out more about it before I can determine how to defeat it. Which means…"

  Lawrence came up to us. "Beverly's gone," he said. His red-rimmed eyes told the story of his sorrow, but I didn't know how to comfort him. I'd accused him of betraying his colleagues, after all, and I knew betrayal took a long time to recover from. But he took me into his arms and laid his cheek on the top of my head.

  "I'm so sorry," I said. "For all of it. For everything."

  He stroked my hair, and his tears warmed my scalp. A healing or benediction? Perhaps both.

  "I understand, and I forgive you," he said.

  Something loosened in me at that moment. I'd been waiting to hear those words for centuries, although I didn't know from whom. And maybe they wouldn't be enough when I really thought about it. But they were enough for now.

  Sir Raleigh appeared in between us, and we both caught him, making a kitty sling out of our arms. He purred, offering the soothing rumble to ease both our hearts. Another mystery I'd yet to solve—where had he come from? Who had sent him? And worse—once he'd accomplished what he'd been sent to do, would he leave me?

  Those were questions for another time.

  When we returned to our hotel room, Lawrence and I spent the night holding each other close. It had been an intense evening, and I felt his sorrow. Nothing sexual happened, though, which was for the best. Men who took Fae lovers often ended up pining for them after it was all over. Once dawn began to touch the sky, I left him to his slumber. I had an appointment to keep.

  I removed the talisman from the safe, and now that I'd been apart from it for so long, I noticed how it felt to be reunited with it—not good. I'd managed to use some of my limited powers the previous evening without my energy draining as quickly. Now the crystal and jewel wand felt heavy in my pocket, my steps sluggish as I crossed the lobby and caught the waiting car.

  When my mother's form shimmered into view in the clearing atop Stone Mountain, I crossed my arms.

  "I'm not amused," I said.

  "By what, Daughter?"

  "Why is this talisman draining my power? It should hook me to Faerie, the source of my strength."

  "Perhaps you've spent too long in the human world, have become more human than Fae."

  Her words chilled me.

  "Not possible."

  "Why did you call me here?" she asked. "You know how it pains me to travel this far."

  "I'm making a report. I found out who leaked the vector, and I managed to keep our secrets." Even from a handsome and inquisitive gargoyle. It hurt to think of leaving him, of the potential for us, but I needed to return home. I could always come back to him later, a full Fae, not the half-magical being I felt I'd become.

  "Yes, you did, but there are loose ends, Daughter. Remember, that was part of the deal—no loose ends."

  "I am also here to make a petition. The creature grows more powerful by the day, and I need to be at my full capacity to defeat it. If I were to return to Faerie for even a day, I feel I would be replenished enough to have a fighting chance."

  I watched to see if she would budge, but her expression didn’t waver a millimeter. "I'm sorry, but no. That's not possible until you fulfill your end of the bargain. That was our agreement."

  I now understood humans' frustration with us. "Can you offer me any help?"

  "No. You will either succeed in defeating the creature or you will not." She shrugged. "You disappoint me, Daughter."

  I sighed. "As per usual. And you disappoint me as well.” The anguished faces of Beverly and Kestrel Graves flashed through my mind and released a flare of anger I hadn’t been aware of holding back. Even so, when I spoke, I only allowed sadness to color my words. “Some mothers would do anything for their children." With that, I turned and walked away.

  "Reine! I have not dismissed you. Where are you going?"

  I kept walking, refusing to look back.

  “Fine, you ungrateful brat,” she snapped, “I’ll send someone, but you may not consider them helpful.”

  I declined to ask whether that was a promise or a threat. The air shimmered as I left the area of the doorway. When I reached an appropriate spot, I took the talisman from my pocket and looked at it. How had I ever thought such a cold object could be beautiful? Before it could steal any more of my magic, I threw it as hard as I could over the side of the mountain into an area humans weren't allowed to enter. The sound of its crash both broke and started to heal my heart.

  As the sun peeked over the horizon, Sir Raleigh appeared on my shoulder, and I coaxed him into my arms. We watched the sunrise, and in spite of my difficult situation, I felt peace.

  “Let her send her worst,” I told the cat. “I’m ready.”

  Then, when I turned, I spotted Lawrence making
a note on his phone. "I didn't realize Fae needed sunrise strength after a trauma," he said.

  I laughed and walked over to him, hooking my arm through his. "Sure, let's go with that."

  We'd just started down the path when I spotted the tall, lanky form of the last person I wanted to see—my brother Rhys. He looked up and gave me his signature grin, crooked due to the scar on his cheek.

  "'Ello, Sis. I heard you could use some help?"

  Oh, Hades.

  From the Author

  Thank you for reading The Shadow Project! I hope you enjoyed it.

  I know you probably see this kind of request at the end of just about every book, but it really does mean a lot for authors to get reviews. It helps your fellow readers to see what you liked and didn’t like and helps them to find new authors and books to love…or avoid.

  I prefer to focus on the positive and think reviews help others find a new-to-them author who can help them escape the world and be someone and somewhere else for a while.

  So, that said, will you please tap here or keep turning the pages to leave a review on Amazon and help another reader? We could all probably use a little more Fae sass right now.

  Thanks!

  - Cecilia

  Coming Soon

  Coming in August, 2020 – Shadows of the Heart

  A deadly creature stalking a convention.

  A traditional enemy with too much sex appeal.

  A bratty little brother who’s several hundred years old but still acts like a teenager.

  Why does Fae life have to be so complicated?

  Reine has one minor loose end to tie up before she’ll be allowed to return to Faerie — an invisible soul-eating creature is on the loose at a major fantasy convention, and the hotel manager doesn’t believe in the paranormal.