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

by L. C. Hibbett

  I laid the picture flat on the desk and dropped the bag back into its place. The strap caught on the drawer handle, knocking the bag on its side. The tinny sound of metal on polished wood clattered along the floor. I crawled across the ground trying to scoop up the small charms that had scattered in every direction.

  Eve’s bag was always loaded with charms. Tiny baubles of protection and healing. There must have been forty on the floor. Disks, stars, twisted loops. Several of each style. But only one shape that held any interest for me. I lined them up. Nine identical pendants, waiting to be strung on a chains. My fingertips wrapped around the familiar jagged metal shape and my breathing slowed. The pendant fit perfectly into the newly formed scar on my palm.

  “It isn’t what you think.”

  My head jerked upwards at the unexpected sound of Eve’s voice, slamming into the desk with a sickening thud. Eve flew across the room. “Are you all right? Is it cut?”

  I kicked my legs out, pushing her away from me and crushing myself against the desk. “Get away from me, Eve!”

  Her face crumpled. “Grace, listen to me. I was going to explain everything. I should have let you read those letters years ago.” She covered her face with her hands. Her voice was strangled. “I didn’t want you to hate me.”

  “I don’t care about letters. What did you do with Cat and Dawn? Did you send them to that place?”

  “Grace, you need to calm down. There are things I have to tell you. I have a message from Gabriel. About your powers. You, Sam, Dawnie. There’s something different. Just let me come over beside you…”

  My heart gave a violent lurch. “Keep back, Eve! How could you!” I crushed myself into the corner. “Did you send them to that desert? Tell me where they are.”

  Eve shook her head and made a jolt in my direction. I screamed, flinging my hands out in defense, threwing out a wall of air. Every charm on the floor lifted and flew across the room. Eve’s eyes widen as she gaped at the metal scoring her skin. She reached for me, her lips moving without sound before her body collapsed into a pile against the wall.

  I didn’t realize I was wailing until Sam lifted me from the floor and carried me out into the living room. Megan stood over me.“Sam, this is bad. Did she kill her?”

  My breathing was labored as I struggled to draw in enough oxygen. I clawed at Sam. He shoved Megan away and tried to prop me in a seated position, but I fell forward onto my hands and knees and started to heave.

  Jasmine dropped to the floor beside me and rubbed my back in small circular motions. “It’s okay, Grace, you’re going to be okay.”

  Sam reappeared, crouching down in front of me. “Eve isn’t dead.”

  I released a shuddering yelp and lifted my face to look at him. He stroked my cheek. “You’ve stunned her, Grace. She’s out for the count. I think one of those charms must have been for sleep.”

  I wrapped my arms tightly around my own waist and tried to ease the palpations that had taken hold of my body. Lucas and Elijah emerged from Eve’s room. Lucas slid onto the couch behind me and slipped his arm over my shoulder. Elijah shuffled from foot to foot. “I better go get Emmanuel and Deirdre. Tell them what’s been going on.”

  I shot to my feet and leaped across the room, barricading the door with my body. “No! You can’t.”

  Sam edged closer. “Grace. Take it easy. We need to get help. I told Deirdre we were following you because you were upset, she’s going to come looking for us.”

  I banged my fist against the wall. “No. We can’t let her know. Tell her we want an early night, or something.”

  I leaned back against the door and closed my eyes. “You were right. All of you.” Megan had the decency to look away as I spoke. “Eve was lying to me. She didn’t need to send me to the Tower. She already had what she needed to heal Dawn.”

  Jasmine pressed her hand against her mouth as the tears began to flow down my cheeks. “Did she know, Grace? That they were looking for Demon-Born?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “She knew something. Or else she wouldn’t have sent me. She let Dawn suffer while she waited for us to get back. Even though she had everything she needed to ease her pain. Where the hell has she sent them? How could she do that to us? We’re her family.”

  Sam pressed his hand over his eyes.

  I straightened my shoulders. “Eve said something. About our powers. Mine, Sam’s and Dawn’s. That there was something different.”

  Jasmine stared at me. “You think this is about that Seeker thing?

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Could be about the way Sam rescued me from that place. Or the way Dawn sees things. Like how she was able to guess when I would wake. I know somebody who might know what’s going on, though. And I think I’m going to have to pay him a visit.”

  Elijah made for the door again, but I held up my hand. “No, please, Elijah. No adults. We don’t know who we can trust. She could have gotten to any of them if she got to Emmanuel. Or they got to her. I don’t know what to believe. This time, I have to do things on our terms. If somebody has Cat and Dawn… I can’t take any risks.”

  Sam grimaced. “I’m not going to like this plan, am I?”

  I shot him an apologetic look. “Nobody has to do this with me. Cat and Dawn are my family. I don’t expect anyone else to put themselves at risk.”

  Elijah stood shoulder to shoulder with Sam. Jasmine linked Elijah’s arm and stared me in the eye. “Cain is our family, Grace. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

  Lucas nodded. “You saved Ozzie, Grace. Even if Eve did have some part in the attack, you got him home safe.”

  All eyes turned to Megan. She crossed her arms. “Megan, all I’m asking is that you don’t say anything until we’re gone. If we don’t get them back before morning, then do whatever you have to. Just give me a chance. Please.”

  Megan’s foot tapped as I spoke. Elijah broke away from the group and put a hand on her shoulder. “We need you, Megan.”

  He spun his head in my direction, and I did my best to school my dubious expression. “Guys, I know Megan can be a jerk.”

  Megan narrowed her eyes and jabbed him in the abdomen. He grabbed her hand and held on to it. “Come on, Megan, even you know that you can be a jerk.” Her frown softened. “But you’re the best fighter we have. The toughest. We have a better chance of getting the others back if you’re on our team.”

  Megan pressed her lips together and lifted her jaw, but she couldn’t disguise the emotion behind her eyes. She stepped towards me, Elijah’s fingers still entwined in her own. “Where are we going?”

  A wave of gratitude beat against my lungs. “We’re going back the London, to the Tower Club.” I held my hand up to shield myself from the torrent of abuse. “I don’t want to go back there either, but we have to try. Gabriel knows something, he’s the key.”

  Lucas gave me a dubious look. “And how are we going to locate him, before he finds us?”

  “I think I can do it.” I blushed. “I know it sounds stupid, but I think I can find people. Their energy. I thought you were able to sense each other, but Deirdre said… She seemed to think it was unusual.”

  Megan narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying you can tell what somebody is from their energy, like that their a Demon, or an Angel, or a tree? Everyone can do that. It won’t help you find this Gabriel creep in a club crawling with Demons.”

  “No. I can sense individuals. I can feel the different emotion. I feel the difference in the energy. Like it has a signature.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I think I will be able to locate Gabriel. It’s all of I’ve got.”

  Jasmine frowned. “Grace, are you forgetting that we run escaped from his henchmen a couple of hours ago?”

  I lifted my chin. “We aren’t going in the back door, this time, Jasmine. Forget about magic. We’re going to the party Human-style. They won’t recognize us, won’t even notice us until it’s too late.” My eyes connected with Lucas’s. “Can you make that happen?”

 
Lucas lifted one eyebrow. “When I’m finished, you won’t even recognize yourself.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “This is how Human’s dress to go to a club?” Megan tugged at the skin tight, ivory dress and tried to bend down to fasten the four-inch strappy sandals. Her hair was pulled into a sleek bun on the top of her head, the length of it coiled so tightly that you could barely tell that her hair was blonde. “Ugh, this is impossible.”

  She threw herself back onto the couch and glared at the offending shoes. Lucas grabbed her ankle and fixed the straps with nimble fingers. “Megan, sweetness, we need to look absolutely nothing like Angels. No Academy black, no leather, no visible weapons.”

  Megan screwed up her face. “If the blades in these heels don’t work then you’re a dead man. You do realize that, Lucas?”

  Jasmine tweaked the fishtail braid hanging over her shoulder and readjusted her contact lenses. “If our concealed weapons fail, chances are we’re all dead men walking.”

  She twirled on one golden stiletto and fluffed out the layers of baby pink tulle in the underskirt of her thigh length dress. Elijah gritted his teeth and adjusted his shirt for the twentieth time. “Stop bickering, girls. Everybody looks good. Nobody is recognizable. Everything is going to be fine.”

  He reached up and touched his hair again, careful not to undo Lucas’s work. I nodded and stood beside him at the mirror. “Elijah is right. We all look like normal Humans on a night out in London. Inconspicuous. I bet there are another three hundred kids in the club that look exactly like I do.”

  Sam leaned against the doorframe and watched me brush my hair over my shoulder. Jasmine and Megan had worked on it together, running straightening irons over it until it flowed all the way to my butt in a river of chocolate and dark gold. My cheeks began to heat as his eyes wandered down the length of my body. The dress that Lucas had chosen for me was electric blue, and it was cut so low at the front that wearing a bra was impossible.

  Sam eyed my fingers as I ran my thumb along the fabric hugging my chest, checking that the double-sided tape Lucas had given me was doing its job. His voice was husky. “I’m pretty certain there won’t be three hundred kids in the club that look like you.”

  I met his eye, taking in the tan leather boots and the crisp white shirt tucked into dark jeans. His hair was freshly washed, and the brown waves tumbled onto his forehead and set off the emerald flecks in his eyes. I wrenched my eyes away and took a deep breath. “Great job, Lucas. Everyone looks good.”

  My gaze slid back to Sam for a moment. Megan jumped up from the couch and stamped her feet to check the high heeled sandals were secure. “Nicely done, Lucas. Makeover Queen. You fit that stereotype like a glove.”

  The room froze.

  Lucas pulled himself off the floor, wiping any dust from his immaculate beige pants. He straightened his back and stared Megan square in the eye. “I like clothes, Megan. I’ve like clothes since I was a toddler playing in my mother’s closet back in the Master’s quarters in New York. I liked them long before I knew anything about gender or sexuality, or that a penis could be used for anything other than taking a tinkle. And I’m not going to stop being interested in fashion just because some bigot thinks that me enjoying couture is a reaffirmation of a worn out stereotype.”

  Megan blinked and cast her eyes down at her coral sandals.

  Lucas extracted a pair of horn-rimmed glasses from his blazer pocket and settled them on the bridge of his nose. “Maybe I can’t change the mind of those people that make up the lowest common denominator in this world. But I’ll be damned if I let any bottom feeding scum tell me what I can and cannot enjoy.”

  He turned on his heel, heading for the door. Megan grabbed his arm. “Sorry. Shit, Lucas. I didn’t even mean it. It just seemed like a funny thing to say.”

  Lucas plucked her hand off his sleeve and let it dangle between them. “Because my sexuality is a source of amusement for you? Would you like me to snap my fingers and call you ‘guuurrrrlll’?”

  “That’s not fair.” Lucas looked at Megan in surprise. She bit her lip. “You guys stereotype me all the time. Ballbreaker. Hard ass. When the boys race each other to be first, you’re competitive, when I make the Elites I’m a bitch.”

  “Maybe we wouldn’t call you a bitch if you didn’t act so mean?” Jasmine wrapped her braid around her wrist.

  Megan crossed her arms. “Maybe I wouldn’t be so mean if you didn’t treat me like a pariah.” She pressed her lips together, and her shoulders sagged. “I don’t want to be an asshole. I just have to keep my edge. I have to stay on the Elite team. I need to get out on active missions.”

  She found Elijah’s face and he gave her a sad smile. Her lip trembled. She took a deep breath and offered Lucas her hand. “Truce. I won’t make any stupid, caustic comments if you don’t.”

  Lucas gripped her fingers firmly and squeezed them. “I can do that.”

  Megan shut her eyes for a minute before opening them wide, lips set, game face on. “Okay. Has everybody completed their tasks? Jasmine, have you packed the purses? Sam, is Eve secured? Lucas, you need to be twenty feet ahead to ensure the route to the slip is clear. Elijah and Jasmine, you sure you can open the gate without it being detected?”

  A sly grin spread across Elijah’s face. Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Please. I have been cracking the gate open for Eli to go on his secret reconnaissance missions since the year after Mom disappeared. I could do this in my sleep.”

  Megan bumped her shoulder against Elijah’s. “Maybe you can crack it open a bit wider, Jasmine. I wouldn’t mind keeping Elijah company. Maybe we could find all the missing Shadow Children.”

  Elijah pulled Megan under his shoulder and rested his chin on her head. I turned away, almost banging my face on Sam’s chest. His expression was somber. “You got that charm on?”

  I pulled the golden necklace that Lucas had stolen for me out of my purse and slipped it over my neck. The chain was long and the pendant nestled against my bare sternum. Sam fingered the small engraved disk and traced his thumb over my Demon’s mark. I shivered, my skin alive under his touch. Sam bit his lip. “I know Eve wanted to keep the hidden world secret from you, but did Cat never give you any hint of what we are?”

  “None.” I stared over his shoulder into Eve’s bedroom. “I swear, I had a thousand different theories and daydreams about who I was. Even after we came here, when you told me what Demon’s were, I had this stupid daydream that maybe my parent was a Demon like Jabol. Somebody kind and decent who gave me up for safe keeping so that I could escape the Silent Homes.”

  I gave Sam an apologetic glance. “Deep down I think I knew there was something more. Something bad. That’s what stopped me looking in the box all these years. This creeping dread inside my stomach. I need to know everything about the world, but I couldn’t open that Pandora’s box. I guess my instincts were right, but it never occurred to me that I could have been conceived with the energy of one of those… things. I should have just asked Cat. She would have told me the truth, maybe she knew I didn’t want to know. I should have had an ounce courage. Instead of dreaming Lizzie was going to walk in here and pull me into her arms. Pathetic.”

  “I’m sorry, Grace. I should have talked to you about all this. I knew how little Eve had taught you about the hidden world, I just didn’t think she would have kept something that big a secret.”

  “I don’t know. How do you tell somebody something like that? Has Cat told Dawn? How could she explain without ripping Dawn to shreds?”

  Sam cupped my face in his strong hand. “She’ll find a way. She’s a good mom. It’s better to be upfront. I wish I had been more honest with you. I should have told you the truth the very first day, at the library. I thought I knew better.”

  “You were doing what you thought was best for my family, Sam. I get it. I appreciate it. I still think you were out of line for the way we acted when we got to Shadow Hall. Creeping around my room when I was unconscious and then
being mean because you’d be too irresistible if I knew the truth? Please! You should be so lucky.” I made a face at him.

  The vulnerability of Sam’s smile caught me off guard. “Trust me, I know I’m not irresistible, Grace. You’ve jumped away from my kiss twice. I know what I am, I know I’m not perfect like Luc or Eli. I did want to tell you how I felt, to explain. I was ready to try after the Spirit attack that night, when you found Ozzie and Frank. I was going to talk to you that day, but then you were holding Eli’s hand in the magic room, and you said you wanted to be friends when we were on our way to see Lizzie. And when I kissed you in the alley.” He rubbed his jaw. “You looked like I’d shot you. I get mean when I’m scared, Grace. I’m a petty guy, deep down. I told you, I’m not the hero.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his lips with all the force I could manage. Megan clapped her hands together, and we sprang apart, both of us flustered. “Okay, people. It’s go time. Lucas, you are first up, Jasmine will go with you. Sam and Grace you follow three minutes later, Elijah and I take the rear.”

  My throat felt dry and scratchy. This wasn’t a game of dress-up. Megan whirled to her left. “Jasmine. You’re opening a slip one block from the main entrance to the club. Seething Lane.”

  Jasmine tipped her head in acknowledgment and slipped out the door after Lucas. Megan turned the laser beam of her attention on me. “Grace, this is all new to you. You need to follow our lead, but don’t ignore your instincts. They’ve served you well under pressure so far.”

  My arms acted without consulting my brain, and I reached out and drew Megan into a hug. “Thank you, Megan. You don’t owe me anything. Thanks for helping me find them.”