Eden's Pawn: Shadow Games Book 1

by C. B. Miller

  EDEN’S PAWN

  BY

  C. B. MILLER

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  ChapTer Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter One

  “Well, that doesn’t look good,” Jerit said.

  I shot him a mocking look. “Gee, you think so?” and pointed at the broken wood around the door. Someone ripped the front door off and made a poor attempt to cover it up. The solid oak door was leaning up against the doorframe with the hinges on the wrong side. The gap between the two was large enough I could have put my hand through, and large shards of wood lay strewn across the stone patio.

  Xilong muffled a laugh and kept his gaze focused on the nearby houses. This was supposed to be a quick in and out. Just knock on the door, make sure that everything was ok and get back in time for tonight’s card game. Now, I’m glad we listened to Xilong’s call for caution earlier. Whoever caused the damage to the front door might still be around.

  “You’re bad luck, Kaedin.” Jerit eyed and shook his head slowly as he padded forward. “Wellness checks are dangerous as it is.”

  Wellness checks. That’s a polite way of saying loyalty checks...

  “Eden warned us against killing him. She’s going to be pissed if he’s destroyed.”

  “It’s not our fault if someone offed him before we got here,” I said.

  “Yeah, that’s assuming she believes us.” Xilong chimed in.

  “He can’t mess with my mind. If he’s faking his sudden disappearance and tries to manipulate us into corroborating his disappearance, he’s in for a bad time.” I said.

  It wouldn’t be the first time this month that a vampire faked their own demise and tried to skip town. Chicago was always a busy town, a hive of supernatural activity, but in the last two years, it turned into one of the largest and most important hubs in the world. And that meant a lot of fighting and dying.

  Things were back to normal after the Accords were signed, a pact between several of the most potent supernatural groups to work together. The city was once firmly under the control of werewolves. Now, it’s officially ruled by vampires, with more autonomous sections carved out for mages, wizards, and the various were-creatures still left.

  Like all peace deals, tensions still ran high, and ‘unfortunate’ events still occurred. Too often for anyone’s taste but not enough to shatter the Accords and start open warfare up again.

  “Do you think it’s Hunters? There have been rumors of a cell operating in town again.” I said.

  “I don’t think so. The Manticores wouldn’t be their typical target. They are what? Two or three centuries old and like to keep a low profile. Hunters wouldn’t bust in on five vampires in their own sanctum.” Jerit replied.

  Xilong gave me a disbelieving look and returned to his duty as a lookout while Jerit moved closer to the door. He stopped a few feet away from the door and chewed his lip while he examined it. Bending down, he picked up a piece of wood, and blue flames erupted from it, consuming the wood in a flash. Jerit let go of it before the flame spread and jumped back. The fire reduced the board to a fine ash that drifted away in the breeze.

  We exchanged looks, expressing our mutual ‘what the fuck was that?’ feeling. I nodded towards the door.

  “That’s not good. I bet someone was hoping concerned friends were stupid enough to just pull the door off and rush in. I guarantee you that door does the same thing, but dead men can’t pay, and you still owe me money. Follow me.”

  Vampires are a paranoid lot. They don’t make it past a few decades without developing extensive plans that usually included secret entrances. To get in or out without being seen, and since the Manticore’s pack leader Nigel was as old or older than the United States, I was willing to bet there was one here.

  We walked around to the side of the two-story stone house, past darkened windows covered by blackout curtains. There was a chance one of them was the way in we were looking for, but it was more likely a combination of lethal traps was waiting on the other side. At the very least, some sort of wards, and if something unfortunate occurred here earlier, I didn’t want to alert anyone still inside to our presence.

  As we passed by the gas meter and something struck me about it being out of place. I stopped to examine it and found that the pipe connecting the gas line to the house wasn’t connected. It was misaligned by a centimeter.

  “You smell anything? I whispered and pointed at the disconnected pipe.

  Xilong shook his head .” I don’t hear anything either,” he mouthed and motioned for me to check the gas meter out while he stood guard.

  I kneeled next to the pipe and gently twisted and pulled at the connection. I nearly let out a victory howl when the tube slid away, revealing a handle mounted inside the wall bracket. It was big enough to wrap two fingers around, and I pulled out a two-foot section of the wall. It was wide enough for a person to squeeze into the darkness beyond.

  “Here,” I hissed quietly and waved at my companions. Jerit flashed me a thumbs-up as he approached, and I crawled into the waiting void through the opening.

  It was a steep tunnel, ten feet in length, with handholds every eight inches that made the descent quick and easy. I ran my fingers around the cool stone surface, unable to find the hint of an exit until I crouched low and felt a cold metal handle. I lifted the small latch, sliding the half-sized door away, and crept out on a stone floor. Darkness surrounded me, and I grimaced internally as it crunched under me as I stood, looking for any sign of light. The scent of musty earth and damp cloth nearly overpowered my nose, and I froze as a dozen glowing yellow eyes lit up in the darkness. Another set of eyes, much closer than the first, swiveled towards me, and stone scraped against stone as something nearby in the void turned towards me.

  “Yessss … the master finally sent us fresh meat!” The speaker’s voice was high pitched, nasally, and sounded like they were chewing on gravel.

  “We eat! We eat!” A second similar voice joined in.

  Stone claws scraping against stone echoed throughout the room as the creatures rushed towards me, their mix-matched eyes filling with hunger.

  “Nope,” I called out and lifted my hand towards the things in the darkness.

  An acrid tang coated my tongue, and the smell of burning metal filled the air as lightning lanced out from my hand into the creatures rushing me. Against the brilliant blue-white light, I caught a glimpse of stony-gray, bulbous bodies with eight legs and a dozen eyes arrayed along their tiny heads. The silence was broken by the boom of stone shattering as the creatures exploded into chunks of debris from the lightning strike.

  Three flashlights tumbled down the bolt hole, casting as much light as shadow through the small opening and illuminated a virtually empty cellar. Pi
eces of stone were scattered throughout the room. Jerit blocked the light momentarily as he crouched through the three-foot tall doorway and drew his ax. He relaxed slightly at the lack of imminent danger.

  “What the hell happened down here?” Jerit’s nose wrinkled in protest.

  I held up my hand and made a ‘bzzt’ noise. “It looks like someone left guardians behind to eat the intruders. They looked like gargoyles. Spider-shaped ones, but still gargoyles. What mage would be insane enough to leave gargoyles behind after breaking into a vampire’s sanctum?” I responded.

  Jerit shivered slightly. “ I don’t know. And stone spiders, no thanks,” he whispered.

  My thoughts exactly.

  I nodded and bent down to examine one of the stone chunks. It was warm, like flesh to the touch, and spongy. The moment I touched it, wispy tendrils of grey smoke curled in the air from it as it started to dissolve. “What the hell?”

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Jerit said.

  Xilong slipped out of the small passageway and stood next to Jerit, extending his police baton with a snap . “ It’s too bad we have to send the newbies first. They get all the fun,” he said.

  I pulled out a flashlight and flashed its beam through the room. The light swept through the room, and I skipped over the staircase before bringing the light to rest on the stairs. I pointed, “Same. We have a job to do, though.”

  We needed to investigate and report back to Eden about what happened here. This would be the sixth missing vampire pack in a month. Something like this just doesn’t happen in a city like Chicago.

  Jerit held out his hand, “After you.”

  I flashed him a smile and shook my head, “Coward.” I drew a knife and crept forward.

  “Just remember, you don’t have to be faster than the monster. Just faster than your companions.” Xilong whispered.

  We crept through the basement toward the stairs, weapons at the ready. Our footsteps carried in the silence, and I suppressed a groan at the sight of wood stairs rising towards the ground floor. Dim light shone through the doorway, and every third or fourth stair was intact while the rest hung in splintered pieces to the frame. The deep gouges scored the walls and ceiling.

  Jerit and Xilong flanked me, and Jerit’s ax dipped to the floor.

  “It’s like -”

  “A giant stone spider or two came down these stairs,” I said.

  Xilong shuddered, “I hate spiders.”

  “I’m not a fan either.” I put a hand on Jerit’s shoulder. “Hey, there isn’t anything like were-spiders or anything, are there?”

  His hand came up to his chin as he looked out at the damaged staircase. “I’m not sure about were-spiders, but Anansi are spider shifters. This isn’t exactly their style from what I know, though.” Jerit replied. There was a twinge of fear in his voice as he glanced up and then behind us.

  I let out a deep breath, “Alright then, watch your step.”

  I pressed my hands against each unbroken stair before hopping up to it. Each one creaked under my weight, and the final step groaned in protest as I landed on it. Broken wood hung in from the doorframe, and the door was nowhere to be found. Soft light shone in the room at the top of the stairs, and I pulled myself up to the carpeted floor. While the basement was pitch black, every light from ceiling lights to lamps was on upstairs. At some point, the Manticores must have remodeled the interior of their sanctum to an open floor plan. To my left was the kitchen, which opened up into a dining room area towards the back of the house. A massive living area at least forty or fifty feet across spread out to my left, and in the far corner of the floor was a spacious den adorned with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

  At one time, it must have been elegant, but now it looked like a battlefield. Strewn throughout the entire floor were broken dishes, furniture, and shredded books. The stairway next was covered in dried blood and other liquids that stained their whole length to the top floor. The entire floor smelled of rot and death, and I froze at the sight of five people standing motionless, facing the bay window. Their clothes were ragged, dirty, and hung from their gaunt frames. Wood creaked behind me, and I held up a fist, signaling Jerit and Xilong to stay as I crept into the kitchen.

  I watched them for several heartbeats, and when they showed no sign of reacting to my presence, I kneeled and extended a hand to Xilong. Pressing a finger to my lips, I helped him up the final gap in the stairs beside me.

  Lines of concern ran across Xilong’s face as he crept forward a few steps, making room for Jerit as I pulled him up. Xilong pointed at the figures and, in a hushed voice, “Zombies?”

  Xilong’s question tugged at my gut as images of infected undead shambling through the streets of Chicago ran through my mind. The existence of zombies wouldn’t have surprised me. I wasn’t sure I was ready to fight them, let alone join their ranks.

  Jerit shook his head and gave a thumbs down. “Zombies don’t last long or wait around like that. They’re always moving,” he whispered.

  Jerit’s calm nonchalance about them made me wonder what things he’s seen that I haven’t yet.

  Then again, after finding that magic was real along with creatures like vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, how bad could zombies be?

  Xilong and I nodded, waited for Jerit to decide our next course of action. As much as I didn’t want to be the new guy any longer, I had to admit that I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation either. I was used to leading a team, even if I wasn’t formally in charge. I was out of my depth here.

  I scanned the room and mentally thanked whoever did this for their sloppy work. A blue globe of fire hung in the air a foot on this side of the front door, and I pointed at it. Xilong twisted in place see, and when Jerit didn’t react, he tapped him on the shoulder. His face went flush as he went to brush my hand away, and he motioned for us to go back into the basement.

  Jerit sat down and swung his legs over to the closest step. It cracked with a thunderous snap as he put his weight on it. The pop echoed throughout the house, and the figures turned as one towards us. Yellowed teeth bared between cracked lips, and their chests heaved as they greedily sucked in air. Their gaunt faces lit up with joy, making almost no noise as they leaped over furniture and dashed across the living room area to us.

  These things were wretches, mockeries of the people they once were, and something told me while I had never seen a zombie, they were something distinctly different.

  These are indeed the Wretched.

  I cried out a warning as I hurled a knife at the lead creature and drew another while it tumbled through the air. The blade sang deep into the thing’s left breast, and thick yellowish-green sludge burst from the wound like an overripe tomato. The injury didn’t slow the thing down as he barreled into Xilong and tackled him to the ground. The creature looked like a starving man in his late forties, and it overwhelmed my companion vampiric imbued strength with ease to wrestle Xilong to the ground. The Wretched’s mouth spread inhumanly wide and bit into Xilong’s back.

  “Jerit!” I called out as the next two leaped toward me, their hands curled into claws. Like the first, they were once men, but there was only unthinking hunger and fury in their hollowed eyes as they clawed at me. Scrambling backward, I narrowly dodged their filthy nails as they swiped the empty space between us, and unholy wail rose from their throats. Jerit grunted, and the sound of wood snapping joined their wretched chorus as the remaining two dived head-first into the basement.

  One Wretched crouched low while the other pressed forward, windmilling its arms with abandon. I dodged to the right, and its paper-thin flesh burst as my blades bit deep into the creature’s arm, side, and thigh from a series of quick slashes. Foul-smelling, yellowish-green liquid oozed out in blobs to the floor from each wound. It tried to spin towards me, and the creature’s leg ruptured where I cut it, sending it crashing to the floor.

  As it fell, the other Wretched leaped into the air at me. The thing impaled itself as I thrust both
knives upward into its chest. The Wretched’s ribcage buckled and popped, giving away as my hands sunk into its flesh and pustulant liquefied organs spilled out. Thin lines burned across my cheeks as its weakened hands raked my face. His mouth opened into a toothless maw, tongue missing and wailed again as it spread inhumanly wide. I pushed my blades deeper, and I spread my arms wide as I screamed back in its face. My hands tore free from its gelatinous chest, and it keened for a moment before it collapsed, sending more of the sludge-like substance spilling out over the carpet.

  Another wail rose, and the wounded Wretched pulled itself up onto one leg. It wobbled as it tried to keep its bulk balanced on the undamaged leg, all while the noxious sludge leaked from its ruined limb. It hopped towards me and slipped on the goo seeping from his slain companion, falling hard to the floor and splattering more of viscous substance against the wall as it flailed its arms.

  Bile rose in my throat at the stench rising from the Wretched, and I groaned in disgust as Xilong tore the head off the Wretched he was fighting. The muck filling these creatures pumped in long slow waves from its neck as it went limp, and Xilong pushed the body to the floor.

  The wounded Wretched was less than three feet from me as it pulled itself across its fallen comrade towards me. Taking a step back, I unsheathed a knife, flipped it a half-turn to catch it by the blade, and hurled it at the thing’s face. The Wretched’s head split open like a ripe pumpkin, and it fell still.

  I did my best to walk around the remains to join my companions next to the stairs as Xilong pulled Jerit up from the basement. All three of us were covered in the yellowish-green sludge, and Xilong tried to shake the stuff from his hands with no success.

  Jerit’s eyes were wide as he stared at the headless Wretched’s body, “What the hell were those things? They - They weren’t zombies. They were… warm. Still alive.”

  Xilong shrugged, “I was kind of hoping you could tell us. Damn thing bit me on the back, and it hurt like hell. Might be some sort of venom the way it stings.” Worry flashed across his face for a moment as he turned his back to us and made an awkward attempt to point at the bite wound on his back.