Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1)

by Brenda K. Davies

  He was alive, and if she could get him somewhere safe, he would heal, but if she did that, she’d embroil herself in this mess. She could get Sahira; her aunt would know what to do, but she preferred not to involve Sahira in this.

  No matter what, she couldn’t leave him here to be hunted down and slaughtered. Rising, she made her way to the branches and pulled a couple back to peer out. Birds flitted through the limbs of a nearby maple, and a dog lounged in the sun by the barn, but she didn’t see anyone else.

  If she could get him into the storm cellar and the tunnels running beneath the property, he could hide there until he healed.

  It might be the worst decision she ever made, she already had enough to deal with, but she lowered the branches back into place and returned to the man’s side. He didn’t move.

  He was completely helpless, and if she didn’t act soon, he would also be completely dead.

  Grasping his arm, she draped it around her shoulder and slid her arm around his back. Planting her feet, she lifted him from the ground. He moaned, and his head fell back, but when she jostled him, it fell forward until his chin rested against his chest.

  She may be half human, but at least she had some immortal strength, and she dragged him toward the edge of the tree with relative ease. With a shaking hand, she pushed aside the leaves to peer out again.

  Across the field of green grass, the manor stood a couple of hundred yards away. Modeled after her dad’s childhood home, the estate looked as if it could have stepped out of eighteenth-century England with its gray stone façade, rounded windows, and five chimneys.

  It was far too large for her and Sahira now that most of the workers who once lived there had fled, but she would never give it up. This was her childhood home, her father had loved the place, and she adored its many rooms, sweeping staircases, and fairy-tale appearance.

  When she was young, Lexi would imagine she was a queen ruling her subjects or a ghost roaming the halls as she slipped from one room to the next. Now, she didn’t pretend anymore, but she hoped that if she ever found someone to love, she would one day raise her children here too.

  That was if she didn’t get caught and killed for harboring a dark fae who was most likely a fugitive.

  “I hope you’re not a complete asshole,” she muttered before hauling him out from under the leaves and dragging him across the yard.

  The storm cellar was only a hundred yards away, but it seemed like a mile as she hurried across the open space while his feet dragged across the ground. To make matters worse, it felt like it got farther away with every step she took. When she finally made it to the cellar, she dug into her pocket and pulled out the key.

  Her eyes darted around, but she still didn’t see anyone as she shifted his weight before bending to stick the key in the lock. Her fingers were surprisingly steady as she turned the key.

  She slid the key back into her pocket and glanced around again. Only the lazy dog remained in view as she pulled open the doors and dragged him into the shadows. His booted feet thudded against the steps as she hauled him into the darkness.

  Three feet into the room, she found the string for the single bulb hanging from the ceiling. Holding her breath, she pulled it and breathed a sigh when the bulb illuminated the damp space.

  When she left the manor, the electricity was on, but that hadn’t meant it still was. Since the war, it often came and went. It had been more reliable lately as the humans started patching pieces of their world back together.

  The bulb illuminated the shelves lining the walls. At one time, supplies packed those shelves, but barely anything remained.

  This wasn’t the best place to leave him, but she had to. If he was a rebel and lycans were hunting him, they would track the scent of his blood here. She slid his arm from her shoulders and let him slump against the wall.

  She was halfway up the stairs before she realized that not only was she most likely harboring a rebel, but he could also be a murderer, a criminal, or something far worse.

  Why was she doing this? What was she thinking?

  Her heart hammered as she spun back toward him. She had to get him out of here!

  She couldn’t do this. She hated seeing someone else die, but she couldn’t put Sahira’s life in jeopardy by allowing this man to stay.

  If he were a rebel, he’d stood against her father. Then, a disturbing possibility occurred to her; he could have been the one who killed her father.

  Running back to his side, Lexi knelt beside him. She was reaching for him, determined to drag him out of here and into the woods to let him fend for himself, when his eyes cracked open.

  “Thank you,” he croaked before passing out again.

  Her hands froze before falling to her side. Her father may have opposed him, but he would never turn away an injured man, and he would never toss a defenseless man to the wolves, literally.

  He could be the one who killed your dad.

  The possibility hit her hard; it was true, but unlikely. And she still couldn’t be responsible for his almost certain death by turning him away.

  She pushed herself away from him and fled up the stairs before the hunters showed up while she was still sitting in the dark, debating what to do. She locked the doors and left him behind.

  CHAPTER 15

  Underneath the willow tree again, Lexi kicked the bloody leaves into the lake to bury the scent of blood on the air. Lifting her knife, she sliced open her palm and let her blood drip onto the earth.

  Lycans, or any immortal, could detect the scent of blood on the air, but she hoped with his bloody leaves gone, her aroma would mask the dark fae’s. Pushing aside the branches, she slipped out from beneath the limbs and scented the air as she searched for more of his blood.

  She discovered more drops of it, and as she walked, she used her foot to smear his blood into the dirt while letting her blood fall onto his. The blood ended at the edge of the lake. Kneeling beside the water, she bent to wash her hands.

  Studying the water’s pristine surface, she searched for anyone else on the shoreline, but she didn’t see anyone in the shadows of the trees. At least half a mile wide and just as long, the dark fae could have entered the water anywhere along the shoreline, but she hoped it was from across the lake.

  She had no idea how he could have swum so far in his condition, but entering the water would have thrown off his trackers until he arrived on her shoreline. And she could only hope she’d done enough to cover his scent.

  Pulling her hands from the water, she was relieved to see the wound had already healed. Now, she had to take care of her guest.

  At one point in time, she would have run into half a dozen people on her way back to the manor; she encountered no one now. But then, there was no one to run into anymore.

  When her father was alive, and before the war, a fair number of people worked the manor. Some lived there, but many fled during the war.

  They were shocked to discover they worked for someone more than human, and many chose to be with their families. They also hoped to flee the destruction, but there was no escape.

  The dragons had leveled most of the major cities throughout the world. What the Lord of the Shadow Realms unleashed on earth was something far worse than any of them ever expected, and now they were all suffering the consequences of it.

  The humans knew of their existence, and immortals had gained nothing from it except more death.

  Yes, the Lord had the dragons to keep the mortals in line, and immortals possessed abilities and strengths far beyond the humans, but the humans still had weapons that could maim and kill them.

  Most immortals could blend in with humans and still choose to do so, but she’d heard tales of immortals who refused to blend in anymore. After years of going incognito, they were embracing their newfound freedom. Unfortunately, that was also causing problems.

  After the war, the humans were petrified, broken, and resentful. They never had any warning that something beyond their realm existed
before the Lord smashed their reality to pieces. And they hadn’t been given much time to adapt before immortals started taking over.

  The war between the immortals was over, but she suspected the war with the humans was just beginning. The Lord of the Shadow Realms couldn’t destroy them all; vampires and both the light and dark fae fed on humans. They could also feed on immortals, but many immortals did not appreciate that, so vampires and the fae mostly relied on mortals for sustenance.

  But then, with as crazy as he was, the Lord might decide to destroy every human if they became a problem and require immortals to feed only on each other. Things would become desperate then as few immortals allowed others to feed on them in any way.

  She didn’t know how the light fae were surviving. They’d refused to fight, and because of that, immortals reviled them. At one time, she often saw them in the human realm, but she hadn’t seen any in almost a year.

  Unlike the dark fae, who fed on the energy produced by sex, the light fae absorbed the joy humans emitted, and even if they weren’t scorned and terrorized by other immortals when they were in the human realm, there was little joy left in this world. But that was their problem to handle; she had her own to deal with right now.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure no one was around before she entered the manor, strode down the hall, and jogged up the sweeping stairs to the second floor. At the top, the hallway ran straight ahead of her for fifty feet before veering around a corner.

  Her steps were muffled by the dark blue carpet running the length of the hall. Unlike the first floor, where most of the rooms had gray stone walls, the upper level was drywalled and painted. The walls were a cream color and lined with family pictures.

  The complete silence still felt so odd, and she resisted hugging herself as the lonely feel of the place weighed her down.

  Stopping outside a door halfway down the hall, she took a deep breath before gripping the knob and shoving the door open. She didn’t look around; she couldn’t as tears filled her eyes while the scent of her dad filled her nose. He’d smelled of the outdoors and mint, and those aromas lingered in his room.

  She blinked back her tears as she opened his drawers. She removed a black sweater and some socks. Unable to keep up with the flow of tears, she gave up trying as she ran to his closet, pulled out a pair of jeans, and fled the room. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it as she wiped at the tears streaming down her cheeks.

  It had been six months since word of his death arrived, yet the knife of grief digging into her heart made it feel like it was just yesterday. She didn’t know if it would ever get better, but she wouldn’t be returning to his room any time soon.

  Shoving herself away from the door, she buried her misery as she hurried to one of the hall closets and pulled it open. She removed a couple of towels before returning to the first floor and entering the kitchen.

  Dinner was already in the oven, but Sahira wasn’t around. She had to be somewhere nearby as she would never let one of her meals burn, but Lexi was glad her aunt wasn’t here; she couldn’t deal with questions right now.

  She rushed to fill a pot with water before Sahira returned. She ignored the warm liquid splashing over her hand as she glanced around. She could always tell Sahira one of the horses injured themselves, Sahira wouldn’t question it or go to the barn to check, but she didn’t want to lie to her.

  When she finished filling the pot, she left the room and was careful not to spill anything as she rushed down the hall. Her feet didn’t make a sound on the red rug covering the gray stone floors. She kept her ears attuned for some hint of Sahira, but the manor remained unnaturally subdued.

  No, it wasn’t unnatural anymore. This was the way it was now.

  She slipped through the library's open double doors and paused to glance back into the hall. From the kitchen, she heard the back door click shut. Sahira must have been out in the garden.

  Lexi turned her attention from the hall and crossed the room toward the large, gray stone fireplace. Overhead, the dark wood beams running across the cathedral ceiling didn’t block the sun streaming through the skylights. It illuminated the hardwood floors and brought out the gold in the blue and gold Oriental rug in the room's center.

  Normally, she loved the way the sun spilled through the skylights and the large, arched windows making up most of the wall on her right, but she barely noticed it now. Just as she barely noticed the thousands of books lining the shelves to her left, behind her, and around the fireplace.

  She’d read every book in this room, many of them more than once. She’d always spent a lot of time here, but since her dad died, it had become her favorite sanctuary. Two overstuffed love seats faced the fireplace. The one on the left was hers, while her father favored the one on the right.

  Often, as a child, she would lay on her belly on that rug. She’d prop her chin on her hands and kick her feet in the air while gazing at the fire and listening to her father read whatever new tale they were venturing on together. He had a thing for the classics, his favorite being Oedipus. She had a thing for fantasy, her favorite being any Harry Potter book.

  She stopped next to the fireplace and glanced back to make sure Sahira wasn’t around. Her aunt knew about the tunnels, but she would question why Lexi was entering them.

  After every tunnel was built, Sahira would go into it and cast a spell to keep them cloaked from the outside world. No one who didn’t know they were there would ever be able to find one of the tunnels.

  But she couldn’t go back and close the library doors because Sahira would wonder about that too. Lexi had to take the chance she could slip into the tunnels without Sahira knowing.

  Standing beside the fireplace, she kept her attention focused on the doors as she pressed one of the rocks. It pushed in, and something clicked. When the inside of the fireplace swung open, cool air drifted out from the shadows beyond. Taking a deep breath, Lexi prepared herself for what she was about to do.

  Once she crossed this threshold, there was no turning back from her decision, but then, she’d already come too far to turn around now. She’d already brought the dark fae further onto her property, and now she had to care for him.

  CHAPTER 16

  Lexi picked up the bottle of blue potion and lifted it. Inside, the golden liquid sparked a little as it swished back and forth. From behind the counter, the witch with the cool blue eyes and black hair watched her.

  “How much?” Lexi asked about the healing potion.

  The dark fae in the tunnels had healed some since yesterday, but it wasn’t fast enough for her liking. She intended to get him out of her life as soon as possible, and if the witches’ concoction helped with that, then she would pay for it. Normally, she would have asked Sahira for this, but she couldn’t do that now.

  “Two hundred,” the witch said.

  Lexi suppressed a snort of disbelief and dipped a hand into her pocket. It was highway robbery, and they both knew it, but she couldn’t risk drawing attention to herself by haggling today.

  She hated being fleeced by the witch, but at least she could rely on the witches’ discretion. The sign next to the register announced all sales were final and confidential.

  The witches were known to keep the secrets of their clientele. Immortals and humans wouldn’t buy from them as often if they were running around discussing their purchases. The witch would never reveal what Lexi purchased here.

  She removed her small wallet from her pocket and took out two hundred carisle. She didn’t have to look at the Shadow Realms' currency to know that dragons marked the front of it.

  The witch smiled as she took the money and slipped it into a leather pouch. She took the potion from Lexi and put it into another leather pouch before giving it back to Lexi.

  “Thanks,” Lexi muttered and stifled her impulse to add, “for screwing me.”

  Turning away from the makeshift, wooden counter, she ignored the people gathered inside the small hut as she made her wa
y through the shadowed interior. Everyone else in the store was human; she could tell by the distinct lack of power emanating from them. They all stopped their browsing of the potions and trinkets lining the shelves to watch her go.

  The humans didn’t have Shadow Realms currency, but the witch behind the counter would take their money. Lexi felt a stab of guilt as she met their curious stares. They all looked tired and more than a little beat down by their new lot in life.

  As she passed a woman, the woman shoved a black lump back onto the shelf. A sign above the lump guaranteed it would provide enough food for a week.

  Pity tugged at Lexi’s heart when the thin woman bowed her head and her lank hair fell forward to shield her features. The humans hadn’t asked for this; they’d never known it was coming, and now they were suffering the consequences because a madman wouldn’t give up the throne that had corrupted him.

  She barely had carisles left, but she found her hand dipping toward her wallet. The price on the stone was fifty dollars or about twenty carisle. The witch had robbed her blind, but apparently, she had a soft spot for the starving masses. Maybe she wasn’t such a smug ass after all.

  The woman lifted the stone again, and Lexi scented tears before she put it back and turned away. Lexi stopped and pulled her wallet out. She removed a twenty-dollar carisle and walked over to the woman.

  The woman started to turn away, but Lexi grasped her wrist to halt her. When the woman turned back to her, Lexi saw her round belly. She was only weeks away from delivery.

  “Here,” Lexi said as she shoved the money into the woman’s hand.

  The woman started to shake her head. “I can’t.”

  “Take it,” Lexi insisted.

  She could feel the witch’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look back. The woman’s fingers curled briefly around Lexi’s as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Lexi pulled her hand away and walked out of the store before she started to cry too. She’d grown up in the mortal realm; she was more comfortable around humans than immortals. She’d grown up with them; they were her people, they were suffering, and she hated it.