Shadow Realms- The Complete Series

by Kelly Carrero

  Ash shook her head. “Seriously?”

  I nodded. “They were friends, and she helped to bind my magic that had presented too early.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “Because I would’ve been a target for the Society. They would’ve tried to get their hands on me—or kill me while they still could. Plus, a baby having that much power can’t be good. I mean, do you remember the stupid shit we did when we were younger.”

  “I remember the stupid shit we did this year.”

  I laughed. “I like to think I’ve grown a bit since then.”

  We continued over to Max and Mason and sat on a fallen log to watch them train. Or, more accurately, watch Mason get his ass kicked. But in true Mason style, he got up after every fall, improving faster than I had when Lana was training me. It wouldn’t be long until Mason was ready to become a hunter.

  “You should’ve seen how bad I was during training,” I said.

  “Really?” She shrugged. “Must’ve been the binding spell they put on you.”

  “That’s it,” I said with a laugh. “I knew you’re my best friend for a reason.”

  She flipped her hair to the side. “Yep. To inflate your ego whenever the chance arises and justify any negative decisions or actions you may or may not have committed.”

  Kade came up behind us and sat down next to me. “Did Nessa tell you that the others are on their way?”

  “Yep. A few minutes ago.”

  “This is going to be insane having so many of you in the same place at the same time.” He slung his arm over my shoulder. “Of course, they won’t be as good as you.” He ruffled my hair with his hand then stood. “I hope they’re not assholes, though.”

  “You and me both.”

  27

  My time with Ashley went all too quickly, and before I knew it, I was saying goodbye, watching her walk away. I took comfort in knowing this would all be over soon and I could finally go back to a somewhat normal life.

  Yeah, that would never happen.

  Hell, I could go out in a bang with the demons. The future was unknown. But something inside of me assured me I would be just fine—we would be fine. And I was going to do everything within my power to make that dream a reality.

  I just hoped the other descendants had at least someone to fight for. I decided not to go with Finn to drop off Ash, as it was better for her to be a little inconspicuous and not turn up in a van.

  We needed this to work without a hitch.

  The first of the descendants arrived shortly after Ashley left. Two young women, one about my age, and the other around Nessa’s, got out of the car. I instantly knew which one was the descendant. She held an aura about her that I only hoped I carried.

  Taking a deep breath, I strode over to her, eager to get the meet and greet over with so we could get on to more serious matters. “Hi. I’m Kali, the spirit elemental.”

  Her warm green eyes met mine as she smiled, her golden hair framing her face in a way mine never would. She didn’t look rough enough to be a huntress, but I knew looks could be very deceiving. After all, almost everyone dismissed me—even for hunter material.

  She opened her arms and drew me into a hug, making me feel way uncomfortable. “Nice to meet you, Kali. I’m Sky, the earth elemental.”

  “Guess they thought you would turn out to be the air.”

  She drew her brows together questioningly as two men got out of the car.

  “Never mind.”

  Liam came up behind me. “You must be Sky. I’m Liam, and this is Parker,” he said, making me do a double take.

  I swiveled my head to either side of me to make sure there wasn’t anyone to sneak up on me. It was just Parker and Liam.

  “That’s me,” she said, her tone way too cheery for the work that was cut out for her.

  I wondered if she’d ever killed a vampire.

  The others came over with bags in their hands. The second woman held out her hand to me. “I’m Torri. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kali.” She gestured to her side. “This is Michael and Daniel.”

  I shook her hand. “This is Parker and Liam.”

  Sky chuckled, lighting up her piercing green eyes. Although they were alluring, they were nothing like mine, which glowed. Maybe it was because I was a spirit elemental. Strange though that she was an earth elemental and had green eyes. I wondered if the fire would be red, and the water blue. Air? White or invisible.

  Really, I was just pulling at strings and avoiding talking to them. Although I was clearly not shy, I never made much of an effort to make new friends.

  “Welcome to our temporary home,” Parker said. “Why don’t I show you to your rooms, and you can settle in?”

  “I’m sure Kali would like to show me to my room so we can get to know each other a little more.”

  I tried to hide the surprise from my face but by Liam’s and Parker’s expressions, I wasn’t that successful.

  I shook my head, trying to do the right thing and not judge Sky for the preppy young woman she appeared to be. “Yeah. That would be good. I’m sure there are loads of stories we can tell each other.”

  Sky grabbed her bag from Daniel. “I’ll come get you when we’re finished getting to know each other.” She stood on the balls of her feet and kissed him briefly.

  Right. So that was obviously the boyfriend. Good to know.

  “Okay,” I said. “Right this way.” I turned on my heel then realized I had no idea where they were staying. “Parker, which one is Sky in again?”

  “Take the path down behind yours, then the second box on the right.”

  “So,” I said, heading down to my room. “How was your trip?”

  “Long. But I’m so glad we’re here and I can finally meet you,” she said, her bag swinging between us. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “I’ve heard virtually nothing about you—sorry.”

  “That’s okay. My story isn’t like yours. I always knew who I was—or at least that there was a possibility I was a descendant. I didn’t find out for sure until I was sixteen and my magic started coming in stronger than the other witches.”

  “This is me,” I said, pointing to my container as we continued toward hers.

  She nodded. “Good to know.”

  Her room was only a few yards away from mine. “This is you,” I said.

  Sky opened the door and held it wide for me.

  Guess I was going inside.

  I flicked on the light switch as I entered the room, which was set up exactly like mine and every other person’s in this village.

  I spun around to face her. “Have you ever killed a vampire?”

  She tilted her head to the side and laughed. “You don’t think I look like a hunter, do you?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  The corner of her lips tipped up again. “I killed my first vampire when I was fifteen, before I knew I could tear them apart with my bare hands and eat their heads off.”

  I jerked my head back in surprise. “You’ve actually done that?”

  She shrugged. “Just about.” Sky dropped her bag on the floor by the bed. “I know I come across as a little…”

  “Preppy?” I offered.

  “Yeah, preppy. But don’t let my looks fool you. I was killing vampires while you were crushing on your first boyfriend.”

  “Okay, then,” I said more to myself than her. “Guess that’ll teach me not to judge.”

  She waved me off. “Don’t worry. Everyone does.” She flipped her golden-blonde hair to the side. “I see it as a blessing. Nobody expects me to be a killer.”

  Her face turned sullen. “I hear your Mom is trapped in the Shadow Realms.”

  I nodded as a lump suddenly formed in my throat. “She’s been there for a few years, taken by the demons and…” I couldn’t say it again. “We’re going to get her back.”

  A warm smile spread across her face as she grabbed my hands and squeezed them. “We will.” Letting go, she asked
, “What do you think about the Shadow Realms?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t really know. I wasn’t there for that long, but the place stunk and was kinda gross. My Mom said it isn’t all like the part where I jumped through.”

  “I’ve yet to go through. I see it, but I’ve had no reason to cross over—until now. We’re going to get her back.”

  “Thanks,” I said, genuinely surprised that someone I’d never met before was willing to travel to the demons’ world to help save my Mom.

  Not wanting to talk about my mother anymore because it was way too painful, I asked, “Have you eaten?”

  “As in food or blood?”

  “Both?”

  “Neither. And I’m sure you can understand how hard that is.”

  “That I can.”

  I walked Sky over to the vampires’ cells, showed her the ropes, and left her alone to feed, making sure she knew they were not to be killed and needed a feed after.

  Leaving her, I headed across the village to Max’s room and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, it swung open revealing my heart on the other side. “Hey,” I said. “Can I come in?”

  He let out a small chuckle and opened the door wide. “You don’t need to ask to come in. You’re always welcome. In fact, I was thinking, you might want to stay with me, or me with you just while the other guests are here so there’s more room.” When I didn’t answer straight away, he added, “Or I could stay with Kade, then you can have one of the other guests bunk with you.”

  “No,” I shot out. “I wasn’t… I was just…” I took a deep breath, trying to get my composure as I entered the room and spun around to face him as he closed the door. “Let me rephrase that. Yes, I would love for you to stay with me, or me with you. Either way, I don’t mind. And no, I didn’t not answer because I don’t want to share a room with you. It’s because…”

  A playful smile spread across his face as he curled his hands around my hip. “It’s because what?”

  Grabbing his shirt in my fist, I sighed. “I don’t want you to get sick of me and ruin this good thing we have going on.”

  He slipped his hands around to the small of my back. “This isn’t a thing. I love you, and you love me. I’m not some teenage boy who doesn’t know what he wants.”

  “And what do you want?” I teased.

  “You.” He kissed me so tenderly I thought my knees were going to give way and I was going to collapse in his arms.

  Frowning, I pulled away from him. “Hang on. How old are you?”

  “Twenty. So technically, I’m no longer a teenager.”

  I pinched my brows together. “I thought you were nineteen.”

  “Not for almost two weeks now.”

  My eyes bugged out. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  The smile in his eyes faded. “It’s not a day I like to remember.”

  It dawned on me, hitting me like a brick. “Your family died on your birthday?”

  He nodded.

  I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his chest. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

  Placing a kiss on my head, he wrapped his arms around me. “Don’t be. You weren’t to know. Plus, you were in the cell, so it’s not as if I could tell you.”

  I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain he felt. Sure, I’d thought I’d lost my Mom, but I still had the rest of my family—even if I had thought one was a vampire and the other was a drunk.

  Tilting my head back, I looked up into his eyes. “Whose place should we stay in?” I asked, trying to move past the painful memory he clearly wanted to forget.

  “Yours is closer to the main hub.”

  “And yours is more secluded.”

  Cupping my head in his hands, he kissed me—this time not so tenderly. This kiss was filled with loss, love, and desire, and I melted into him, wanting to take his pain away, giving him what he needed in that moment.

  Backing me up, my legs hit the end of the bed and I collapsed onto the mattress. He crawled on top of me and kissed me. His fingers grazed the skin just above the waist of my pants, filling me with an unrelenting desire that spread through my body and fed off the fire within his soul, his touch.

  I never knew I could love a guy so much, and as much as I tried to tell myself my fears weren’t warranted, I couldn’t help but worry I would lose this amazing guy. After all, I’d lost everyone I cared about in one way or another. And even though I had gotten almost every single one back, the days apart were torturous.

  Only time would tell, and until then, I would love him with all of my heart—every chance I got.

  28

  It wasn’t long before Nessa returned, and shortly after, the next of the descendants arrived. This time, I hung back, pretending to be caught up with moving Max into my room. As much as I enjoyed the seclusion his room offered, now wasn’t the time to be tempted by staying in there for hours on end.

  We needed to keep working, and staying in the hub of the village was the smartest plan. Of course, we did the move as slowly as possible, spending ten minutes here and there flipping through various books, trying to find something useful to our situation.

  Eventually, we got the knock on the door from Nessa telling me to get my ass out there for dinner and introduce myself to not one but two more descendants.

  The second and third had arrived.

  Max slung his arm over my shoulders as we headed over to the dining area that once again looked like a magical fairyland. I so had to learn how to do that trick. It would be amazing to fall asleep under the lights at night.

  “Here she is,” Nessa said, seated with an array of new faces at a long table. There were two spare cushions remaining on the opposite side of the newbies.

  Sky smiled at me, giving me a knowing look. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.

  Time for formal introductions. “Hi. I’m Kali, the spirit elemental, and this is Max.”

  “I’m Almira, the water elemental,” a brunette girl around the same age as I am said. She had piercing blue eyes, the color of a deep blue sea. Fitting.

  “And I’m Alex, the fire elemental,” another girl said, her hair as black as a raven and eyes to match. She had a tattoo running down her neck, in a language that was foreign to me. She looked like someone I would’ve hung out with in the days before I discovered the hunters.

  “Welcome,” Max said as he took his spot on the cushion and had to tug me down beside him.

  Having so many descendants in one place was kind of unnerving. I knew they were all there for the same reason I was. Well, almost. I was pretty sure they didn’t all have mothers trapped in the Shadow Realms.

  Something hit me in the head then dropped onto my lap. A grape. Knowing damn well who threw it, I glared at Mason.

  The corner of his lips quirked as he tried to hide his smile. “Don’t stare,” he mouthed.

  Kade leaned over and gently smacked Mason on the back of the head.

  I bit down on my smile. I loved my crew.

  “So, we were discussing ideas for how we could trap this demonic huntress,” Almira said. “We know we have to wait until your friend…” She drew her brows together. “Ashley?” When I nodded, she continued. “When Ashley gets back to us with whatever intel Lana has for us. Then we need to be ready to move. But we’re still unsure how this is going to work. How do we trap a demonic huntress?”

  “Easy,” I said. “We use me as bait.”

  Max stilled next to me, as did Finn, Mason, and Kade. Nessa was the only one apart from the newbies who appeared intrigued. “Go on,” she said.

  “Well, this bitch…” I shook my head. “I shouldn’t call her that because she might have been a nice person before she was possessed, and it might be the demon who is responsible for the way she is. Anyway, this demon knows who I am. She doesn’t know that we have all of you here.” I pointed to the other descendants. “So, I lure her out, into a trap, and then you three lock her in.”

  “Then the Society will know the
other elementals are here.”

  “Not necessarily,” I said.

  “Will it matter?” Alex asked, a careless expression on her face.

  I still wasn’t sure if I liked this girl or not. I needed someone who would take this seriously, throw herself into the deep end just like I was. But wasn’t that exactly what she was doing? Not caring about the consequences?

  Alex’s gaze met mine as if she knew what I was thinking. “Once we have her, we can perform the bonding spell. Then the Society is screwed.”

  Okay, so maybe I did like this girl.

  For the next forty minutes, we discussed strategies and tried to come up with ideas as we feasted on an array of local foods. There were still a lot of uncertainties and information we were not privy to. We needed more time, but time wasn’t on our side. We needed to act fast.

  It didn’t take long for me to figure out I liked all of the descendants. They were passionate in their cause—maybe more so than I was. They’d been nurtured all of their lives, molding them into the weapons that would save the world.

  After dinner, we headed back to the books, trying to learn all we could within the little time we had.

  By 10:00 p.m. we had somewhat of a plan, and it was time to get some rest and hope Lana would get back to Ash by morning.

  Morning came and went, and I’d heard nothing from Ash. I kept checking my phone, expecting to see a missed call or a message, but there was none.

  I sat on one end of the couch in the library, with Max at the other end, our feet intertwined and our heads in our respective books. Almira, Alex, and Sky were huddled up on various cushions and beanbags, while a few other Ember members were taking up the remaining seats.

  The more I read, the more I got confused. It was information overload, and I needed a release.

  Sitting up, I snapped the book closed. “I need to run.”

  Almira groaned. “So do I.” She stood up from the beanbag and put the book down face open to bookmark the page she was on.

  “Want me to come with?” Max mouthed, peering over his book.