Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  Christophe froze as he, too, felt the point of a blade at his back.

  “You should lower that blade, Templar. We’re here to help you.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “Look, I know that the attack on us was a setup. Vampires were responsible for the attack on us and Ivana.”

  Tristan sighed as he felt the pressure of the blade against his neck disappear. He turned around to see Christophe in the same clothing he wore the night of Ivana’s death, though barely recognizable from the layers of filth. He looked like he’d been living in a sewer for weeks. His blood stained cheeks and hands signaled feeding, but his eyes were beaten and angry.

  Zoë lowered her sword as Christophe and Tristan hugged briefly. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long to find you.”

  “I did not know who to trust.” He turned to notice Zoë standing quietly. His eyes widened as he drank in the vision of her. “Who are you?”

  Zoë’s violet eyes flashed as she sheathed her sword behind her back. “Vengeance,”she replied.

  “Shortly before we left The Three’s mansion, I noticed something odd. Following the motorcade, I saw that Dashiell was no longer trailing on the ground. He was missing for a few minutes, so I went back to trail him. When I went back, I saw him talking to a vampire on a motorcycle. I watched the vampire pull a ski mask over his face before speeding off. Claude had no business there.”

  “What do you mean? You knew him?”

  “Yeah, I made him. He’d been asking me about joining the guards, but he wasn’t ready yet. I didn’t understand their connection.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I approached Dashiell. At first, he shrugged it off and I wanted to believe him there was nothing to it. That was a mistake. He blindsided me and we fought.” His head lowered. “Son of a bitch got the upperhand and left me for dead. Before he left, he told me that that night would mark the end of the pisspoor truce, and that The Three had no room for saints.

  “He mentioned that now The Three collected the two prizes from the Green Girls, all bets were off.” Christophe braced himself against the wall. “By the time I came to, it was all over.”

  Zoë tensed. “The two prizes?”

  Tristan turned to her. “Remelia and the grimoire. With one, the witches had a chance to fight. But with both in The Three’s possession, they had the upper hand. I’m sorry, Tristan, but I couldn’t trust anyone in the guards, and before I knew it, everyone was hunting me. This was the only place I could think of to hide until I could figure out how to find an ally to help.”

  Clenching his fists, anger tensed Christophe’s muscles. “When I got word that witches and Were-shifters attacked, I knew it had to be a lie. I could’ve followed The Three to the ends of the earth. But killing our own and using them for political gain disgusts me. My loyalty ends at the edge of this madness.”

  “Good. Because we need your help. Things have been escalating and we have a feeling a strike against the witches and the Were-shifters will happen at Ivana’s funeral. We need to end this.”

  Christophe pushed himself off the wall and nodded. “I’m with you, Commander. Let’s get out of here.” He slid his blade into its sheath and checked his gun holstered on his thigh.

  Running out of the side exit of the sanctuary, Tristan saw a red laser dot in the trees and immediately turned to Zoë

  “Gun!”

  A bullet clipped him in the shoulder as he shielded her and closed the door. Christophe grabbed him under his shoulders to pull him up as the door became riddled with bullet holes.

  “Move! Move!” Zoë pushed back as Tristan crawled to the other side of the wall. Christophe and the others scrambled at the gunshots as both exits were shot at. Finally, the shots stopped.

  “This is the royal guard!” Dashiell casually announced as he and his crew of vampires came out of the darkness towards the sanctuary. Their guns were drawn as they quietly surrounded the building. “We’re here to retrieve suspects from an assassination. We mean no harm to the rest of you. Crackheads, Were-shifters, or otherwise.” He smiled. “Tristan? I know you’re in there, man. And Christophe... and that foxy, foxy little bangtail you showed off earlier. So why don’t you come on out?”

  “So we can talk about how you turned your back on us? How you murdered Green Girls and Were-shifters alike?” Tristan yelled, leaning against the wall.

  Dashiell shrugged. “You taught me to seize opportunities. The Three gave me a lot of perks to help them with this project. I suspect they knew you didn’t have the heart to carry all this out. Considering Ivana was involved, I don’t blame them.”

  “You can still walk away, Dash,” Tristan warned. “The Three won’t protect you.”

  “Oh, I don’t need their protection Tristan. I gotta admit, I didn’t want to have to kill you. Besides, you taught me everything I know. But let’s face it, you’ve wanted out of all this a long time ago. So now you’ll get your chance.”

  “Come and get me, asshole.”

  “Hanging with a fugitive isn’t a good look for the former Commander of the Royal Guard. Why don’t you give us Christophe and make this even. It’s either that, or we torch the place and force you out. Your choice!”

  Tristan started to get up when Zoë pushed him down. She shook her head. It was time this ended.

  “Wait here,” she instructed.

  “Come out slowly, now!” Dashiell demanded outside.

  “What are you gonna do?” Tristan asked in a whisper.

  Zoë stood up. “What I was made to do.”

  Chapter Eighteen: Enthralled

  STEPPING OVER CHRISTOPHE, she slowly made her way to the door. Turning to meet Tristan’s gaze, her eyes flashed violet. “You’ll be safe inside.”

  Christophe whispered. “From what?”

  “From me.” Zoë stepped out from the door with her hands up. “I’m coming out!” The semicircle of vampires and red lasers flashing across her eyes were the first things she saw.

  Dashiell stood in the center dressed in black, his gun aimed at her. He scoffed. “Well, if it isn’t the foxy bangtail. You mean, they pushed you out here instead of them? Pussies.”

  Quietly, she continued to walk further out toward Dashiell, toward his army of guns and madness. “Believe me. I'm more than enough.”

  With all her might, Zoë kicked the dumpster over against the door, blocking Tristan and Christophe and some others inside. Standing still, Zoë focused deep into her thoughts, pulling into the darkness where enthrallment dwelled, where the deadly recesses of taking a vampire lived, waiting on bated breath to release. Summoning that power, her hands glowed amber, as did the rest of her body, as she used her power to pull them all to her. It flowed from her in ripples disappearing into the air. It was like a whisper in the wind, telling them anything they wanted to hear, hust as alluring as a siren's call and just as potent as a succubus’s kiss. She watched their eyes hyperdilate and stay trained on her.

  Dashiell felt the sensual caress of a touch that didn't exist on his body, and the scent of blood too sweet to ignore. It was coming from her. Who was she? He shook his head as if to remove a thought.

  “What... What’s going on?” He and the others began to pant, trying to steady their breaths and the enthrallment began to crank up. At the scale she was pulling, there was a risk of Tristan and Christophe being sucked in. All she could do was to keep them from getting to her before she had a chance to play.

  They liked to toy and slaughter? Good. Cause so did she.

  She walked up to Dashiell as he dropped his weapon. “You feel that fire in your veins, vampire? That needful hunger where you can think of nothing more than sinking your fangs into my flesh and sating your uncontrollable lust by driving yourself into me?

  “That's me. I'm cold. I'm deadly. And absolutely not to be fucked with. I'm your wildest dream and your most terrifying nightmare. You may think you can control my seduction, but sooner or later, you'll give in. Every vampire does.”

&nb
sp; She pulled her sword and placed it under his chin. “Now, kneel for me.”

  Slowly, Dashiell dropped to his knees on the pavement. He looked up at her like she was the Savior. But there would be no salvation for him nor the others. Atonement was upon them. His fangs drawn, he waited, pulling at his clothes. "Let me taste you. Just a drop."

  “I’ll kill you last so I can savor the taste of it. For now, you’ll be my bitch until it’s your turn.”

  Zoë walked past him smiling. With a crooked finger, the vampires began to lower their guard and approach her. Tristan peered out the window. Her blade ready, she slashed through the first wave with expert skill.

  Before she could land the blow, her sword glowed red and flew from her hand. With a hiss, Zoë followed with her eyes as it landed in the hands of a familiar face. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the two Black Blood Slayers approaching her.

  Shit. Not now. It can’t be! “What are you doing here?”

  Constantine examined the blade in his hand and eyed Zoë. “We’re here to ask the same thing, Zoë. You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I’m doing my job and that is to kill vampires. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  “We both know there’s more to it than that. You were told to stay out of this pathetic skirmish between the supernaturals. It is not our fight.”

  “You must come back with us,” Taki commanded.

  “This is bullshit! They slaughtered a whole coven! That is reason enough for retribution!”

  Constantine frowned. He was in no mood to deal with her angst. “We are not in the business of policing all the supernaturals, Zoë. We can’t choose sides, and we can’t be involved like this. You must come now. Don’t make us force you. You won’t like how we do that.”

  Tristan and Christophe ran up with guns drawn. “

  Zoë rolled her eyes as Constantine and Taki looked at them like flies. “They’re with me! Don’t touch them.”

  “Oh, we have no intention to do so if you plan to come with us right now.”

  If she left them, they’d be as good as dead, but if she refused, they’d take her away, but not without torturing and killing Tristan and Christophe.

  “You have to run, Tristan, or you both will be caught. You have to run now!” Her warning carried a tone of urgent desperation.

  Constance and Taki both pulled out sully chains and quickly wrapped them around her wrists before all three of them flashed out of there. The pull of enthrallment instantly stopped and dissipated with Zoë gone, leaving Tristan and Christophe greatly outnumbered. Snapping out of the trance, Dashiell looked at the headless bodies with alarm. Drawing his gun, he and the others still alive rushed them.

  Dashiell stood up to Tristan. “That’s a neat little trick your bangtail could do, but didn’t quite save you, did it?”

  Tristan shrugged. “No, but in all of two minutes, she managed to cut a swath through your shitty team and made you her bitch, kneeling for orders. I’ll take it as a wash.”

  Dashiell hit him across the face with his gun. “We’ll see who’s a bitch after we’re done with you.” He motioned to two vampires wearing thick gloves. “Do it.”

  One of them reached into their bag and pulled out silver barbed chains and moved towards Christophe with a wicked grin.

  Christophe writhed as he saw the vampire chains coming towards him. “No! No!” He struggled as they began to wrap it around his torso. The sizzling sound as it hooked into his flesh accompanied his yells of agony.

  Dashiell smiled. “A little souvenir I took from the Green Girls when we paid them a visit. Don’t worry, Tris, there’s one for you too.”

  “You dirty piece of shit! Let’s end this right now! You and me! I want your head you traitorous bastard!” Tristan growled behind the background noise of Christophe’s groans and yells. He was too weak to endure such torture. “Let him go! You know that it’s me you and The Three want!”

  Dashiell shook his head cutting his eyes to Christophe. “Geez, what a fuckin’ wailer. Would you shut him up? He’s interrupting grown-up conversation.”

  Tristan bucked against the hold as he watched them proceed to wrap it around Christophe’s face, gagging his mouth with the barbaric chain. His heart wrenched at the sight, and he pulled against the vampires holding him.

  “I’m going slice that smile off your face, Dashiell.”

  “Save it. We gotta get back to The Three. They definitely want to see you before Ivana’s funeral. You can save your tough talk for them. After delivering you, I’ve got a lot on my plate.” He turned to another vampire. “Bag him, gag him, and you watch your ass with him. He’s like a cockroach, so don’t underestimate him.”

  The vampire nodded. “You got it.”

  Dashiell turned to Tristan as he unwrapped a piece of gum and popped it into his mouth. “See you in a bit, Tris. First, I gotta pay my respects to an old friend.”

  ZOË STOOD GROWLING, pulling at the sully chains that looped around her wrists and bolted to the floor of the hall. She couldn’t explain it, but she could feel Tristan battling distress.

  The feel of his blood in her veins continued to call to her, keeping her grounded as she found herself once again at the mercy of her superiors. If she didn’t get back to earth soon, The Three would get away with all of their treachery and launch a full-on attack on the Were-shifters and witches.

  It wasn’t right. She couldn’t fail again. Not this time. It was too big. She yanked against the chains, letting the pain of it keep her lucid.

  Taki walked into the hall. Seeing the display, she gave a disapproving shake. “I don’t understand why you bother. You know those chains are made solely for you. There’s no getting out of them on your own.”

  Zoë watched her with thin slits for eyes. “Just call it my nature not to turn my back on a mission.”

  “Oh, Zoë. There was no mission. That was just a childish attempt to make your own rules and fight a battle that can upset the Order.”

  Taki pulled up a chair and sat. “Humans and supernaturals, alike. We do them no favors that do not help our cause. You know the Order is already complicated, and yet you make it even muddier by protecting witches who kill humans and supernaturals, by antagonizing the Were-shifters, and last, but certainly the most alarming.” She stood up and grabbed Zoë’s face. “A fraternizing partnership with a vampire.”

  Zoë pulled her face away. “Give me a break, Taki! You know I had no control over that. I was bound to him!”

  Taki scoffed. “And yet... he still lives. You’re made to seduce and kill. I’ve seen you in action, Zoë and what I saw was not normal.” She frowned in disgust. “Do you have... feelings for that creature?”

  Her voice reeked of detestment and jealousy. Two things that Zoë just didn’t have time for, but the question prompted her to think about her answer. Do I?

  “It’s complicated.”

  Taki grabbed her jaw again pulling her close to her lips. “That is not the answer I was looking for!”

  “I know the answer you’re looking for, but if you’re not here to talk about releasing me, then I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

  Taki exhaled a deep breath. She had no idea why Zoë felt the need to rebel every damn thing she possibly could. As if she was better than the rest of them. As if she was more than a Black Blood Slayer. But she wasn’t. She was just like all the rest of them: damned to protect the human souls if they wanted even a far chance of being back in the Divine’s light once again.

  They were slaves for the crimes they did so long ago, the dust from those times were already half way away to the ends of the cosmos.

  “You think you’re special, don’t you? That the same rules we all follow somehow don’t apply to you?” Taki accused.

  “No,” Zoë replied, slightly raising her nose with confidence. “I just prefer to challenge them, that’s all.” She looked past Taki to see Constantine enter. “Now, if you’re going to kiss me goodbye, now’s the time. And know t
hat I’ll never kiss you again.”

  Taki’s eyes turned cold staring into Zoë’s stoic face and she released her face with contempt.

  “Goodbye, Zoë.” With that, she turned and walked off passing up, Constantine. “She’s all yours. Punishment and all.” The door slammed shut, leaving Zoë and her other superior in the hall.

  Constantine pushed his long, black braid away from his shoulder as he quietly walked to the dais where she was chained. His violet eyes were bright and expression visibly annoyed as he moved towards her.

  Like all of them, he possessed almost immaculate features, from his chiseled chin and soft lips to his tall, masculine frame. The irony was that the use of those features were for anything but immaculate and innocent.

  He stopped in front of her and put his hands behind his back. “Hello, Zoë.”

  “Constantine.” she acknowledged. “I need to explain the situation.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Do you, now? Perhaps I know all the dance steps to this one. I mean, it’s not like we didn’t have this conversation before, right?”

  “This is different, Connie, and you know it. One side is getting too dominant and we have to intervene. The vampires are going to take the wars to another level. They have the numbers and stole the grimoire and Remelia. Forget what Taki—”

  “Taki,” Constantine interjected. “May have been forgiving and lenient the first time, but look at me.”

  Zoë met his eyes.

  “I’m not Taki. And I know she has an... unhealthy fixation on you. Please rest assured that I do not.” He sat down. “Do you know why the Order is so complicated?”

  Zoë nodded. “Because nothing in it is absolute. Everything is about balance.”

  He nodded in agreement. “Correct. We can’t kill every vampire on the planet, just like we can’t allow them to kill every human or Were. We just thin the herds so that humans have a better chance for dominance. But even then, we couldn’t allow all the supernaturals to be slaughtered by humans, either. Balance.”