The Shadow Children (The Demon-Born Trilogy Book 1)

by L. C. Hibbett

  Elijah ducked through the curtain and groaned at the sight of Megan’s angry figure disappearing past the window. Sam slapped him on the back. Brandon tucked his tablet under his arm and angled himself towards Lucas. “Can you guys stick around for another couple of minutes? Or you got to follow the ice queen? Mom’s jet will be waiting for me in forty minutes anyway, I better get moving.”

  Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets. “I think we better go too. Have to get back soon anyway. To the hospital. Visiting hours.” Brandon nodded. Sam shook his hand and walked to the door. Elijah fist bumped him and jogged past Sam, stepping outside to look for Megan. Brandon pulled me into a hug. I wanted to tell him that we’d catch up soon but I stayed silent. Sam tucked me under his arm and pushed the door open leaving Lucas inside with Brandon.

  The air was muggy on the street and my ears buzzed with the sudden hum of city life, jarring after the silence in the theater. Lucas blasted out the door and stormed up the pavement, cornering Elijah and Megan. We raced after him.

  “What the fuck is your problem, Megan. You can’t act like a decent human being for one afternoon.” Elijah stepped in front of Megan, blocking Lucas. Lucas shoved him in the chest.

  Jasmine’s whistle cut through the noise of the traffic and the bustling footfall. She jerked her head towards the opening of an alley. Elijah and Lucas didn’t take their eyes of each until they were both standing in front of Jasmine. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “I am goddamn sick of everybody fighting with each other. Do you hear me?”

  She poked a finger at us all. I looked down at the ground. Elijah tried to put an arm around her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. “No. No way, Elijah. I am sick to death of your skulking around, defending Megan’s nasty bitchiness.”

  Megan rolled her eyes, and Jasmine pounced on her. “There you go. Do you know how rude that is? You lose your mind because Grace mentions your family, but you think it’s okay to give her degree every time she opens her mouth? Huh?”

  “I don’t like people talking about my mom.” Megan’s voice was small.

  Jasmine’s shoulders sagged. “I know, Megan. I get it. But Grace doesn’t know that your mom is missing. You can’t just attack people like that.”

  I pressed my hand over my mouth, all my anger seeping down through the cracks in the pavement. Megan mumbled something and Jasmine lifted her eyebrows. “What, Megan?”

  “I said— I think Grace is okay.” Megan darted her eyes in my direction.

  Sam tickled the back of my neck, and I smiled, tugging at my lip with my teeth. Megan crossed her arms and looked at Elijah. He shook his head, and Megan shrugged apologetically. Elijah covered his face as Megan spoke. “Grace is all right, but that doesn’t mean her family is. It’s not a coincidence, the Spirit attacks. Elijah and I know. It’s Eve.”

  I felt Sam’s body tense. He tucked his hand into the back pocket of my jeans.

  I clenched my teeth. “Excuse me? What the hell are you suggesting about my family?”

  Elijah flinched but he lifted his eyes, and I noticed for the first time how hollow his cheeks had become. “I’m sorry, Grace. I really am.”

  Jasmine touched his shoulder. “Elijah? What are you apologizing for?”

  He rested his face against her hand for a moment before taking a deep breath and drawing his shoulders back. “That day. When Emmanuel wanted you in his study? After the Spirit attack on the New York cell and Shadow Hall?”

  I nodded, licking my dry lips.

  “Deirdre sent me looking for Megan, to help with the younger group, and I couldn’t find her. So Luc and I chilled for a while but then Deirdre came looking again. She made Lucas help her and Jasmine with the kids, and told me to find Megan because her dad was majorly pissed.”

  Lucas sat down on a trash can. His face was stone. “Get on with it, Elijah. What has this got to do with Grace’s family.”

  Elijah swallowed. “Megan was in your quarters when I found her. In Eve’s bedroom.”

  Indignant fury welled up in my throat. “You sneaky little rat.”

  Megan’s jaw clenched, but she stood her ground. “I didn’t go in there to snoop, Grace. I swear. Deirdre asked me to get some book Eve had borrowed from Peter. He thought the Spirits were planning some sort of mass convergence over France, and he had Deirdre hunting down half his library.” She lifted her eyes from the ground. “I was only looking for the book, Grace. I just checked the drawer in her desk.”

  Her gaze slid to Elijah. Jasmine kicked the ground. “Spit it out, guys. What did you find.”

  Elijah looked up, searching for Sam. “We found the remains of a Spirit spell. Soaked in Emmanuel’s blood.”

  Sam stiffened, every inch of his frame as tight as a coiled spring. “You're certain?”

  Elijah tipped his head. “We followed the source. It led to the garden at their old cottage.”

  Sam exhaled slowly. I wrenched myself away from his embrace, pressing my back against the wall. “What are you talking about?”

  Sam held out his hands. “Grace, does Eve have a magic box of some sort. Somewhere her spells might be tied to?”

  I slid myself further along the wall.

  “This is important, Grace. Does she have many Demon contacts? Where does she get her charms?” Sam probed.

  “What exactly are you accusing my family of, Sam?” I ground fist against the wall, incensed by the tremor in my voice.

  Jasmine ran across the alley, shooting Sam a glare. “Nobody is accusing anybody of anything, Grace. We’re just trying to understand. Why would Eve want to charm Emmanuel? Is there anything she would want to hide from him?”

  I shook my head.

  Elijah rubbed his neck. “I’m sorry, Grace, but it makes sense. The attacks have intensified since you guys got to Shadow Hall. The New York cell are convinced it was an inside job, only a Shadow Child or somebody with access to their books could have broken the charm protecting their headquarters.

  “Eve saved us that night, she protected you!” I was shouting, my throat raw.

  Elijah winced. “How did Eve know what to do that night, Grace? We haven’t been able to fight the Spirit Demons. Nobody has. Not since Herod’s Blades. We can deter them with large expanses of water and Spirit Light, but I’ve never seen anyone but a Demon use magic like Eve did. And that Spirit attack at the cottage the first day. It’s almost like the Spirit Demons knew we’d be out there, looking for Dawn. How could they know? The only people who knew we were at your home were you guys, Emmanuel, and Peter. She wanted us gone, and suddenly there was a Spirit attack. The first one ever in that area.”

  Lucas stood up and looked at Megan. “You think that’s why Emmanuel couldn’t heal Frank? Eve had drained him? To stop him interfering with the attack? Or do find out how to break the charm over the New York cell?”

  Megan lifted her hands in the air. “Or she’s controlling him, all the time. You’ve seen the way he is, anything she wants— it’s done. And we know that the Demons were already interested in Grace. Sam saw them following her months ago.”

  Sam winced as I drew my hand up to my mouth. “You told her, Sam? But you didn’t tell me until today?”

  He tried to catch hold of my hand, but I slapped him away. “No, Sam. Don’t touch me. This is all bull. Eve is powerful, so what? You said yourself that Spirit attacks on the Shadow Children have been on the rise for a few years. You can’t blame Eve for that. And maybe she had Emmanuel’s blood because she healed him. He had a bandage the day after the attack, did you even think of asking him what happened?”

  Nobody would meet my eye.

  My voice was shrill, echoing in the narrow alley. “Yeah, Eve knows some Demons. It was a Demon who rescued Cat and brought her to Eve. Rescued her. And Eve took her in.” I felt a rush of relief that I hadn’t mentioned to anyone else that Gabriel had been the Demon who had brought Cat. I tucked the information at the back of my uneasy mind. “I know Eve can be harsh and distant, but she is
a decent woman. She’d never hurt us. She wouldn’t.”

  I drew in a deep breath, staring at my feet. “And that Demon, Lizzie, could have been following us for another reason. Maybe because she knew who we were. Who our parents were. My parents. Maybe she could even be one of our parents. My real mom.”

  The words burst from my mouth like a long-buried hope suddenly wrenched free. Nobody made a sound. I bit my lip and chanced a glance at their faces. It was like being a passenger in a fatal car crash, and watching your friends’ reactions as the vehicles collide. Jasmine’s eyes were wide, both her hands pressed against her face. Elijah’s head was turned away at an awkward angle to avoid my gaze. Even Megan looked pained.

  “Oh, Grace. No.” Sam’s voice was a whisper. “How could they not tell you this? That’s not what we are. Shit.” He kicked an empty glass bottle, and it smashed against the wall ten feet to my right.

  Lucas shook his head and wrapped his arm around Jasmine’s shoulder. Sam edged closer. “Grace. Demons are barren. They can’t procreate outside of their own realms. They don’t age, they don’t die of natural causes, and they don’t have kids.”

  “Demon-Born, Sam. Children of Demons. That’s us.” I tapped my chest.

  Sam’s eyes sealed shut and his brow furrowed. “Grace. No. Not that sort of Demon. We are Demon-Born. Born of the union of a woman and a man who has intentionally drawn the essence of a Spirit Demon into his body. We aren’t the children of visitors from another realm. We’re the products of torture.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  When I was little, I used to think I could outrun my sorrows. No matter how scared I was, no matter how badly I was hurting, if I just ran fast enough I could leave them all behind. Over the years I realized that wasn’t true. Every time we fled I left a part of my soul behind, but the pain and terror travelled right along with us. Still, the instinct to run remained. I guess hope is a slow study.

  My feet beat along the pavement. I jostled my way through the crowds, sending a girl in high heels teetering against the wall. My fingers jabbed at my mobile phone, searching for Cat’s number. When it rang out for the fourth time, I ground to a halt and fired it onto the road. I listened to it crunch under the wheels of a yellow cab. Sam dashed out and scooped up the remains of my phone from the asphalt, holding them out to me like a peace offering.

  “Leave me alone, Sam.” I pushed past him, trying to remember which theater Peter had mentioned.

  Sam grabbed my hand, threading his fingers between mine. “I’m sorry, Grace. Somebody should have told you. I didn’t realize. I didn’t know that’s what you were thinking. About Lizzie. If I’d knownI was giving you false hope— I’m sorry.”

  The pain in my chest had become a physical thing. I shook my head, desperate to escape the ceaseless stream of people swarming around us. “Don’t. Don’t talk about it. I just need Catherine.”

  Sam gestured for Elijah to hail a cab. Jasmine’s shoulders were pulled up to her ears as she scanned the street uneasily. She froze, grabbing at my sleeve. “Guys. Oh, shit.”

  I followed her line of vision to a lone figure standing outside a grand theater entrance. His handsome, heavy-set face was twisted away from the breeze as he flicked a lighter between thick fingers. A pretty girl skipped out through the golden painted doors, whispering something into his ear. Her titian curls brushing against his sallow skin. The memory of rough fingers plucking at my clothes surfaced with a sickening lurch. Jasmine’s face mirrored my horror.

  “Fergus and Lara,” I whispered.

  Sam pulled his hood up over his head, and I followed, tugging at my own with trembling hands. Lucas had already made the connection, and he linked Megan and Elijah’s arms in a fluid movement. He led us down the street with as much as speed as was possible without drawing undue attention. I clung on to Jasmine, grateful for the warmth of Sam’s solid body pressed against my other side.

  Jasmine spoke through closed lips. “Guys, Peter is inside watching a show. We need to warn him.”

  Elijah glanced over his shoulder, scanning the pavement. “Okay, they haven’t moved. Anyone care to fill us in?” He looked down for a second and tapped a message into his phone.

  “Keep walking, man.” Sam stared straight ahead, nudging Elijah with his knee. “They were at the Tower. The burly dude is the one that Grace had to pay the blood debt to.”

  Elijah started walking again, glaring back down the street over his shoulder. His top lip curled over his teeth in a sneer. “The ape who licked Jasmine’s fingers? Could they have known we were in New York?”

  I clenched my teeth, stung by the unspoken accusation of blame that I sure was being pointed at Eve. Jasmine screwed her face up. “Just keep moving, Eli. Get back to the park and home. Did you text Peter?”

  Elijah nodded, shooting a last look over his shoulder. His expression sharpened, sending a shiver down my spine. “Code red, guys. They’re following us.”

  Megan whipped around to assess the scene. She grunted something to Sam, and he nodded, grabbing me by the hand. Sam pressed his lips against my ear. “Don’t let go of my hand.”

  I clung to his fingers with every ounce of strength in my body, and we ran. The group scattered. Only Sam and I remained together, each of the others sprinted purposefully in opposite directions, moving at a speed that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

  Megan scaled the walls of a high-rise building to our left, lounging effortlessly on a fourth-floor windowsill. Her voice dropped seductively into the busy street. “Fergus, how you doing big guy? I heard that you like a chase. Catch me if you can.”

  She leaned forward and blew him a kiss. The sound of pedestrians being pushed out of the way followed us down the street until we rounded the corner. I paused and tried to catch sight of Megan and the others, but Sam wrenched me forward, dragging me along until we reached the clearing in central park.

  Lucas was already there. For once, he didn’t celebrate his victory. Jasmine arrived next, dropping from the branches of an overhanging tree. Lucas pulled out his phone and started dialing. “I already messaged Deirdre, to let her know what happened. I’ll get her to open the gate now.”

  Sam wouldn’t let go of my hand. I looked at Jasmine. “Megan and Elijah know what they’re doing, right? They’re on their way?”

  Jasmine nodded, taking a deep breath. “Don’t worry, Grace. They’re good. Megan’s a pain in the ass, but she’s incredible in the field.”

  On cue, Eli and Megan slid into the clearing, barely panting. Lucas held the mobile out, pressing the speaker button. Deirdre’s voice crept into the evening air. “Gate is open, kids. The barrier will let you portal in. Jasmine you slip, you’ll be neatest. I’ll open the gate again for Peter when he’s ready. He can handle any rogue Demons, don’t worry.”

  Jasmine’s fingers danced in the breeze, her brows drawn together in concentration. I tore free from Sam’s grasp and grabbed the phone from Lucas.

  “Deirdre, is Cat there? Can I talk to her, please? I need to ask her something.” I fiddled with the screen, trying unsuccessfully to turn off the speaker.

  Deirdre sounded puzzled. “Weren’t they with you? Eve asked me to open a gate just after you guys left. She said she was letting them spend a few days in the city. A little vacation, time for Dawn to recuperate. I thought they were probably hooking up with you guys for the day. Strange, though, Cat did leave her handbag behind. Maybe try Cain’s phone?”

  A chill crept inside me, running from the soles of my feet into the core of my heart. Jasmine tugged the slip open, and I let the phone tumble onto the grass. I could feel all of them watching me. Jasmine’s lips were pale, blood drained away so they were indistinguishable from her skin. I burst past her, tearing the slip open as I ran.

  Sam’s voice followed me onto the lawn of Shadow Hall, but I was already gone.

  Chapter Forty

  Our quarters were empty when I got there. A small mercy. I checked inside the closets and under every bed, searching
for signs that Cat had packed for a trip. Everything was untouched. Each item of clothing accounted for. My footsteps faltered outside Eve’s bedroom door. The clock on the mantelpiece continued to tick. Measuring my torment in relentless beats. I slid the door open.

  Eve’s room was exactly as one would expect it to be. The bed was neatly made, plain sheets tucked carefully under each corner. A pile of books rested on the writing desk. If I had traced a finger along the shelves, I wouldn’t have found a speck of dust. But it wasn’t that kind of dirt I was searching for.

  My stomach rolled and twisted, wringing out every ounce of courage that lingered in my system. I bent down to check under the bed. Nothing. My fingers itched as I rifled through the wardrobes and her bedside lockers.

  “Where the hell is it?” I thumped my fist down on the writing desk. It wasn’t here. I wondered was it still buried back at the cottage. That’s where Elijah and Megan said they had traced the energy to. It just seemed so unlikely that she would leave the chest unguarded. Eve protected it like a child.

  I flicked through the contents of Eve’s writing desk. Notes on different magical phenomena. Memos in Emmanuel’s neat script. My fingers unearthed a small gilt-edged card. With thanks, Peter. I pushed it aside. There was nothing else. I leaned back in the chair and my feet connected with something bulky. Eve’s purse. The corners of my lips twitched. Cat called it Ms. Poppin’s bag. It was unfeasibly large and cumbersome. Necessary if you consider charmed door handles as appropriate contents for a handbag.

  I pulled it onto my lap, keeping one eye on the door. Wash bag, spare underwear, notebook, pens. My knuckles grazed a soft leather pouch. I reached inside with my fingers and pulled out a photograph. I squeezed my eyes shut. Eve cradling a baby against her chest.

  I still remembered the little pink dress that the infant in the photo was wearing. My baby doll had worn in it for years after I did, until we had to leave my doll on a cold bed in Paris during a midnight escape. I’d cried for weeks, even though I was too old for toys. I couldn’t sleep without it. Eve had sat by my bedside for a month, stroking my hair until sleep came for me. Guilt swelled in my throat.