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

by L. C. Hibbett

  Shadow Hall’s repurposed chapel was a blend of old and new. The wooden pews had been replaced by leather couches, but the raised stone pulpit remained, rising up from the granite floor like a serpent from the deep. Peter leaned over its side to count us as we appeared. We were holding hands so Gabriel could transport us as one, facing Peter in a line. Red rover, red rover, I call Peter over.

  “Welcome, welcome, one and all. Not quite what we were expecting but I, for one, feel exhilarated by your timely arrival.” Peter looked exactly as he had on every occasion I had seen him. His dark hair was neatly combed and his three-piece suit was charmingly disheveled.

  He tilted his head to one side, running his gaze over each of us like a bird choosing which worm to devour first. Jasmine crushed her fingers around Elijah’s wrist. The muscles in Elijah’s neck strained and bulged, but he held his position between his sister and Megan.

  “Please, children, find your place.” Peter swept his hand over the hall magnanimously. He beamed at a tall brunette standing alone beside a window. “Splendid news, Maria. They have brought another Human to keep you company.”

  The woman’s face remained unchanged, but her eyes flickered for a moment towards a group of people huddled against the adjacent wall. They landed on a teenage girl with a strong jaw and her mother’s hair. The anger inside me burned as I surveyed Peter’s work. Human, Angel, Half-Born, Demon-Born. He had divided the residents of Shadow Hall by race. Mothers torn from their children. Lovers ripped apart.

  Lydia and Frank stood on the edge of their respective groups, as close together as the segregation would allow them. Jabol stood alone in the far corner, his face bloody. In my mind, I went through a mental roll call, the pain in my chest easing with each face accounted for. Only one name left.

  “Emmanuel!”

  Megan’s wail tore through my thoughts. I followed her line of sight to a crumpled heap at the base of the pulpit. My stomach lurched. Peter skipped down from the raised platform, stepping over Emmanuel’s body gingerly.

  “Ah, yes. A messy business, trying to extract truth from those who wish to conceal it. Terrible stuff. Very base.” He nudged the prone bundle with his cane, and Emmanuel gave a shuddering groan. I dug my fingernails into my palm.

  Peter surveyed our motley crew. Cain’s expression was impenetrable, but Cat’s face was white. The color had drained from her cheeks as Gabriel had laid everything bare upstairs, filling the gaps in knowledge for those who had not been present earlier to hear the story. Cat had fallen at Eve’s feet, shattered by the magnitude of her sacrifice for us. The burden she had carried alone.

  Peter wasted no time examining his former family members, unperturbed by Elijah’s black glare or Jasmine’s drawn face. When he reached the end of the line, he halted. “Gabriel. The bad penny. We meet again.”

  Gabriel’s lips thinned. He shot Eve a loaded glance, half warning and half apology. “It’s been a long time, Charles. Or is it Peter? Impossible to keep up. I see you’ve taken to beating your elders instead of your wife in this incarnation?”

  Eve stiffened beside me. Sam released a low hiss. Peter’s smirk didn’t budge, but his knuckles whitened as he gripped the handle of his cane. Gabriel’s voice was quicksilver. “Wonderful to see you again, Charles. In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I do hope to gut you and feed your entrails to my dogs before sunrise.”

  Peter’s smile twisted into a sneer. “I never beat Clara. Whatever lies she told you so that she could creep back into your bed are between you and her, but you will not defile my character in front of my daughter, Devil.”

  Eve blanched, refusing to meet Peter’s probing stare. He sighed. “I see that you are displeased, Eve. No matter. There will be plenty of time to reconcile once we have returned home together.”

  He stepped closer and tipped her chin upwards with his fingertip. “I see a lot of myself in you, Eve. And in my granddaughter.”

  Eve didn’t rise to the bait, but her fingers trembled against mine. Rage boiled in my blood. “She’s nothing like you. You’re a monster. A devious liar.”

  Peter twisted his neck to peer into my face. His expression was mildly amused. “But you don’t believe that, Grace.”

  “Don’t delude yourself. You’re an abomination. Who are you? What are you? You’re not Uncle Peter, and you’re not that Angel whose family died in the blitz. A fraud and a liar. How many other people have you pretended to be? You’re a leech. Sucking the happiness out of other people’s lives because you don’t deserve any joy of your own.” The words exploded from my lips like bullets, pushing me further away from him with each syllable. The others moved with me. Floating across the floor like a row of paper chain children.

  Peter followed us, keeping his eyes level with mine. “Oh, I believe that you are horrified by my existence, Grace. I don’t doubt that for a moment. But do you really think that Eve and I are that dissimilar?”

  I blinked at him.

  “Did Eve ever tell you the truth about who you were, Grace? She knew about the Shadow Children a decade ago, but she didn’t bring you to them. The years of companionship and security you could have known. Instead of always running. The endless anxiety. Why deprive you of that? Do you wonder what happened to your birth mother when she went to retrieve her baby and found her gone?”

  I shook my head to dislodge the shards of truth falling from his forked tongue and into my raw ears. He reached for my hand. I took a final lurch backward and collided with the wall directly beside the group of Demon-Born.

  Dawn threw her arms around Oscar’s neck, whispering in his ear. Oscar grabbed Dawn’s hand and joined our chain, pulling Prya to his other side.

  Peter was relentless. I could taste his wolfish breath. “Do you wake ever morning with fear in your heart, Grace? Have you wondered what happened to the daughter Eve abandoned for you? What kind of mother would choose to trade her child’s life for another? This is the truth you have aligned yourself with, and yet you would judge me so harshly?”

  He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, tracing its path along my neck and down over my bare arm. My skin crawled. He lifted my hand to his lips. “You may have come to think of Eve as a mother, Grace, but you mustn’t think of me as your grandfather. We could be much more than that.”

  Sam exploded from his position in line and charged at Peter, but Eve beat him to it. She plucked my fingers from Peter’s grasp with icy calm. I could feel the tension radiating from the rest of the team as Eve stepped closer to Peter. She leaned forward, staring him in the eye, and spat into his face.

  For a moment, rage transformed Peter. Like an awning lifted in the wind, his concealment shifted, and I saw beyond the thick lashes and the refined words into a heart that had shriveled with age and hatred until nothing remained of what once existed.

  He pulled a crisp handkerchief from his jacket and dabbed his face. When he looked up again, the mask had returned. I tugged Eve and Sam back into the chain, squeezing their hands.

  Peter’s voice was as icy. “I have no call to explain myself to children. You couldn’t possibly understand my motivation. The world is decaying in front of your eyes, and you don’t even see it. Rotting like a sweet fruit. If it weren’t for men like me, there would be nothing left of this realm.”

  He waved the white hankie at us. “Every sacrifice has been made for the greater good.”

  Sam’s eyes were full of fire. “What have you sacrificed? All you’ve done is taken. It’s easy to play the martyr when it’s not your heart.”

  Peter’s face contorted. “You wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for me, boy! You know nothing of what I have offered up. I once had a life, love, family. A position. I made my choice for the greater good. And I will do it again. There is an end coming.” Peter cut his eyes in Gabriel’s direction. “He knows it. Those of power can sense it. The veil is thinning. Who do you think will save you when the Humans can see what walks amongst them? Devils and night
mares, brought to life. Are you ready for a war with the Humans? Even with magic we are outnumbered ten to one. Now is our chance to shape the future before it’s too late.”

  Brandon’s brows were drawn low over his eyes. “Why does it have to mean war? Because we couldn’t handle your skills? I think you might be underestimating Human capabilities, Sir.”

  Peter didn’t even glance in his direction before he turned on his heel and made for Emmanuel once more. “Enough. The hour is late, and my Spirits are restless. We must let them feed before we return home. All I require is Danu’s heart, and we shall be on our way. What is it to be, Grace? Shall you bring it to me or will I extract the information from our dear Master?”

  He raised his cane over Emmanuel’s skull like an ax.

  “No!”

  My mouth made the shape of the word, but it was Eve’s cry that rang out. She clasped both hands over her mouth.

  I stepped forward, and the line closed behind me. “Leave him, Peter. Let Jabol heal Emmanuel, and I will get you what you want.”

  A collective intake of breath spread across the perimeter of the room, the races united in their horror. Peter grinned and beckoned Jabol to attend to Emmanuel. I turned my back as Jabol rolled Emmanuel’s lifeless form over to examine his wounds, fighting the urge to vomit on the floor. Peter’s smile was cold. “My part is done. Find me that stone.”

  I closed my eyes and let my senses roam through the old chapel. The very walls were alive with memory. The fresh agony of betrayal, the ancient sweetness of a couple tying their lives together as one.

  My body twitched as I struggled to break through the incessant waves of emotion that beat against me as I wandered along the edges of the room. I could sense bodies moving out of my way, clearing a path, one by one. Sorrow, loss, fear, regret, satisfaction. I froze for a beat in sudden illumination as I passed the Angels, horror spreading through my blood, tinged with bitter disappointment.

  I shook myself off, searching for Danu’s stone until I heard it’s call. A surge of power unlike any I had felt before. The bricks pulsated under my fingers. I reached for Danu’s heart, drawing it to me, and effortlessly it appeared on my palm. A smooth, egg-shaped object.

  I closed my fingers around it. It was warm in my hand, and although its appearance matched that of a thousand stones on the beach a few hundred meters from where I stood, I could tell it was unique. A delicate power.

  I looked around the room. The groups had shuffled away, leaving me alone. Every eye was trained on me. Peter called out, “Come, Grace. Hand it over. You cannot control the strength of Danu’s heart, let's not be foolish.”

  Like a marionette doll, I began to move towards him with jerky steps.

  Frank’s voice rang out across the room, breaking Peter’s focus on me. “You won’t get away with this, Peter. We won’t let you take our people. You might be powerful, but you are still alone.”

  I released a breath and ran back towards Sam and Eve. Peter’s face twisted in irritation as he watched me scuttle across the room. He narrowed his eyes on Franks, and opened his lips, but I spoke first, my words tinged with sadness. “Peter’s not working alone.”

  The air itched. Eyes darted in every direction, searching out the traitors. My voice carried across the chapel. “Peter couldn’t have done it alone. He didn’t. He had help. Opening gates. Passing on information. Sending people to Eve’s room to arouse suspicion and keep the focus off Peter. Not helping to unlock my power. Pretending Eve had sent Cat on vacation.”

  Faces around the room winced in disbelief as I ripped off each layer of deception. Deirdre didn’t even bother to protest her innocence as she crossed the floor to stand by Peter’s side. “Well done, Grace. Too little, too late. I suspect that’s going to be the story of your life, my dear.”

  Deirdre’s round face appeared calm as she spoke, but her eyes reminded me of the water out past Old Head, both beautiful and treacherous at once.

  Jabol looked up from where he was tending Emmanuel’s wounds. “No. Deirdre, no! This cannot be. Peter, he has corrupted you.”

  Deirdre met his eye and Jabol’s shoulders drooped. Emmanuel’s blood dripped from his hands onto the floor below, splattering as it fell. “Deirdre. You were loved.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Jabol. There is no love for us in this organization. All it does is take. What life has it given me? Alone and barren? Is that what I deserve?” A sneer spread across Deirdre’s face and she raised her hands into the air, summoning a vicious wind. It blew through the room, upturning furniture and straining at the joists of the roof. “I gave the Shadow Children my life, my power, and they gave me nothing. Peter can offer me a new life. An eternal life.”

  The wind ceased. Deirdre’s voice was a whisper. “He can give me the chance to birth a child.” Jabol closed his eyes, and Deirdre’s voice took on a seductive tone. “You could come with us, Jabol. With the Demon children. There are Demons on Peter’s side too. There is a war coming. We could be together.”

  Jabol lifted his stare from Emmanuel’s broken form, and his brow creased. “I feel the change, Deirdre. Six hundred years in this realm. I have felt the veil moving. I chose my side long ago. It is not with men who feed on innocents and beat their elders with sticks.”

  The door in Deirdre’s eyes slammed shut, and her sneer reappeared. “In that case, let's hope our paths don’t cross again, old friend.”

  Jabol bowed.

  Peter banged his cane on the floor. “Enough. Time is slipping away. Grace, hand me the heart.”

  I hesitated. “Why didn’t you just take us. Before now. We’ve been here for weeks. Why didn’t you take all the Demon-Born as soon as we arrived?”

  “Always a question, isn’t that right, Grace? You might have made a decent Guardian. If they didn’t want you dead.” Peter’s smile was stretched wide over her face. “I was planning to take you all. That very first day, outside your shabby little cottage. I sent my Spirits to collect you. But you escaped. That’s when I knew there was something special about you. Together. The pressure, it sparked your hidden gifts. We’ve been waiting for those beautiful gifts. So we decided to see if we could crack another few of you open, find out what little surprises your hiding inside.”

  Peter licked his lips, small pink tongue darting in and out like a reptile. My stomach churned. “And now you know enough? So you want us to go with you and do your bidding?”

  Peter grinned. “Something like that. I would have been happy to stay. To squeeze you a little more. Unfortunately these Shadow Children were beginning to finally use their eyes. Despite the little distractions we planted, pointing the finger of suspicion at others. Our days were numbered. Best to quit while one is ahead, that’s a life lesson for you, Grace. Now, give me Danu’s heart.”

  I gripped it inside my fist. “What will you do with it?”

  “I have told you no lies, Grace. I will break the charm. My Spirit Demons will feed, and Deirdre and I will return you children, our Spirit children, to where you belong. To prepare for the next step.”

  “What will you do with the others?”

  Peter shrugged, checking his watch again. “Grace, I have no directed malice here. The Spirit Demons will feed on whom they desire and then they will return with us, and I will close the portal. Whoever wishes to fight or run is free to do so. It’s of little consequence to me.”

  His gaze landed on Gabriel. “Unfortunately my Spirit Demons have no interest in feeding on the scum of other realms.”

  “And if we fight?” I set my jaw.

  “Then I will tear the heart out of every child in this room and lay them bleeding at your feet. The choice is yours.” He held his hand out. “Now give me Danu’s heart.”

  “You want to destroy the charm? Consider it done.” I dropped the stone to the floor. From across the room, I saw Lydia’s eyes widen. I lifted my foot and smashed it down, crushing Danu’s Heart into dust. The pregnant silence in the chapel shattered with the charm, and the high ceilin
g echoed with cries of panic and fear.

  Peter threw his head back and inhaled as the world exploded around us. Sam grabbed my hand, pulling me back into the line between him and Eve. Spirit-Demons poured into the chapel, creeping through cracks in the windows and under the door.

  Gabriel, Lucas, and Brandon detached from one side of our chain. Jasmine, Elijah, and Megan stepped away from the other, leaving all of the Demon-Born holding hands in a line.

  The others spread through the chapel, passing out Spirit Blades and whipping through the air in a glorious blur of pure gold. Lucas threaded his fingers through Brandon’s, anchoring him to his side as he held back the Spirit-Demons with unmatched ferocity.

  Gabriel lifted Emmanuel tenderly and settled him at his feet in the center of the room, while those with Spirit Blades spun around in a circle. Jabol joined them, catching the blade that Lucas tossed to him. Megan and Elijah ducked and flipped through the chaos, herding the unarmed to the center of the circle to assist Gabriel.

  Peter watched the Spirit Demon’s descending on the people of Shadow Hall with a detached fascination. “Aren’t they marvelous? They feed on the very spark of life. Love, faith, hope, despair, loss, grief. The more you feel, the better they feed.”

  The bitter taste of fear assaulted my tongue as a tendril of darkness crept around the legs of a Half-Born child. The girl’s mother was screaming and clawing at the Spirits as the cloying black shadows enveloped them both. Sam bellowed at my side, and I could feel him using every ounce of his resolve to keep his feet planted in our line instead of running to Frank’s side to help push back the Spirits.

  Jabol burst through the chaos and passed the limp body of the girl to Frank, before carrying her lifeless mother to the center of the circle and laying her beside her daughter at Gabriel’s feet. Peter surveyed the growing pile of bodies and smiled at me as he opened a portal. “Can you feel it, Grace? The Spirits are tasting it. Bloating with the essence of lives they have never lived.”

  He breathed deeply. “Doesn’t it make you feel young? Anything is possible if you possess enough life force.”