His Caress of Shadows (The Kaldr Chronicles Book 4)

by Kody Boye

I turned my eyes to Aerick.

  The young Howler swallowed a lump in his throat. “Muh… Me?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  I closed my eyes.

  I felt a tear slip from under one lid.

  I reached for him in darkness, in blindness, in hate and greed and malice for all the harm I had done in becoming a part of his life.

  When I found his hand—when our fingers touched and laced together—I exhaled, for there was nothing I could do at that moment but think.

  No.

  I couldn’t do what it was the Kelda had wanted.

  I needed to come up with a bigger, and better, plan.

  The Sanguine whom had made our lives into a living hell would be dealt with—my way, on my terms.

  I’d have it no other way.

  7

  I had a little less than a month to deal with the situation at hand before it got any more out of control. For that reason, I pulled, from the grand and sweeping depths of the Internet, a map of San Antonio before I sat Aerick down and asked him where the caves were.

  “You mean the Friesenhan Caves?” Aerick asked, to which I responded with only a nod. “Is that where the Sanguine are?”

  I nodded once more. Aerick, in response, let out a sigh and ran a hand through his lengthening hair before lifting his head to look at me. “Jason,” he said.

  “This is Pierre all over again,” I replied, shaking my head as he reached forward in an effort to take my phone. “This has to be dealt with, Aerick. Now. Before things get out of control.”

  “You mean they’re not?” the Howler asked with a laugh. “Jason… you were attacked in broad daylight. In our own home.”

  “This is going to get worse before it gets better, Aerick.”

  “I know.”

  “Which is why I need to deal with the problem head-on.”

  The Howler sighed once more and leaned forward to look at the map I’d pulled up on my smartphone. “They’re probably hiding out in them because they’ve been closed for such a long time,” Aerick said. “Because people were going missing—or worse: being found dead around the time I was attacked.”

  “So they’re currently abandoned?”

  “For now.” He paused. “You’re sure the Kelda—or whatever the fuck she is—said they were there?”

  “I’m sure.” I paused as well while trying to determine how it was I would proceed with the matter at hand. “I’m not going to ask you to take me there, because that would be selfish and, by all means, wrong, especially after what you’d gone through. I just want to confirm the spot and ask if there’s any advice you could give me before I go.”

  “You don’t seriously plan to go alone.”

  “I plan to take Scarlet and Shadow with me.”

  “And they’ve agreed to this?” Aerick asked.

  “No,” I said, “they haven’t, but I imagined she’ll be more than willing to help me out with my problem considering everything that’s going on.”

  Aerick turned his head to glance outside—to where the camper was parked alongside the hill—and frowned. “You really think she’ll help you?”

  “I do. But like I said—I need you to tell me anything you can about the area or how it might have changed.”

  “There isn’t much to it,” Aerick said as he kicked his feet up onto the coffee table and leaned back on the couch. “It’s a tourist trap. Side of the road. Just off the highway. You get off, arrive, park, then make your way down a pathway until you reach the caves. At this point they’re likely crossed out with do not cross tape—because like I said: there were werewolf attacks happening there that the police couldn’t stop. How you’re going to go in there with just Scarlet and Shadow—”

  “—and maybe Travis Alvarez,” I added.

  “—I don’t know,” Aerick finished, “but I’d imagine you have a plan, or at least the beginning of one.”

  I didn’t. That was the worst part. I wasn’t about to let Aerick in on that little factoid, however, so rather than say anything, I merely nodded, said, “I have an idea,” then stood and began to make my way toward the front door.

  “I have work,” Aerick said, slinging himself off the couch and then making his way to the door along with me. “I’m gonna catch the bus and make my way over there.”

  “You sure?” I asked.

  “I’m sure,” he replied.

  We kissed at the doorway before making our way outside—he to his place at the bus stop across the street, I to Scarlet and Shadow’s camper that lay just in front of our house.

  At the foot of the vehicle, I sighed, inhaled a deep breath of humid air, then leaned forward and knocked.

  Scarlet was the one who answered, dressed plainly in a white tanktop and a pair of jeans. “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” I replied. “Can I come in?”

  She merely opened the door and waited for me to enter.

  8

  “So let me get this straight,” Scarlet said after I’d detailed what the Kelda had said. “You want to go down to these caves, break entry, and then kill the Sanguine that’s been after you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking shitting me.”

  “I’m not,” I replied, to which she sighed and shook her head. I watched her ran a hand across her stubbly skull and frowned when her hand stopped at the curve of her neck. “What?” I asked.

  “It’s just,” she started, “you’re asking me to hunt a mark that hasn’t been designated as a target by the Agency.”

  “Hasn’t been designated as a target?” I laughed. “Scarlet—they attacked me in broad daylight.”

  “I understand that, but I could get in serious trouble for doing this, Jason.”

  “You’ve got to help me, Scarlet. I… I’m afraid that if I don’t do something now, they’re going to kill me. Or worse—kill Guy or Aerick.”

  “Your little family isn’t at the top of my priorities,” Scarlet replied. “What’s in it for me? Huh? What do I get by helping you?”

  “Peace of mind, and knowing that the vampires who caused the Mass Witness won’t come back and bite you in the ass later on.”

  “That doesn’t sound like much of a bargain.”

  “Look,” I said, leaning forward in my place on the couch. “I can’t offer you anything. If it’s money you want—”

  “—I don’t need money,” she said.

  “—I’ll give it to you. But either way, I don’t know where else to turn. I know it’s asking for a lot, but who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to help you out someday.”

  “You? Help me?” she laughed. “That’d be something, now wouldn’t it?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her and offered what I could only hope was my most determined glare. It seemed to work, because shortly thereafter, Scarlet removed her feet from where they were perched on the dashboard and swiveled about in her seat to look at me. “All right,” she said. “You’ve got a deal. On a few conditions.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “You take your boyfriends with you to do this. No Lone Ranger or Indiana Jones bullshit. You hear me?”

  “I—”

  “We need all the help we can get, Jason, especially since I won’t be able to pull another Hunter into this mess with us.”

  “All right.”

  “Condition two,” she said. “We do this my way by my rules. This means I go in first, you watch my back, and you let me do the majority of the killing. I’m trained and conditioned for this kind of work, so whatever we run into—witches, Kaldr, Howlers, etcetera—I’ll be able to handle it. You’ll merely serve as the backup in case things go wrong.”

  “All right.”

  “Condition three,” she added. “You take any rap I get for this, no matter what the cost. Got it?”

  “Got it,” I said.

  “Good,” Scarlet replied. “Then I guess it’s settled. You’ll go back, tell your men what’s going to happen, then we can get on our way to San Antonio.
”

  With that in mind, I removed myself from the couch and began to make my way toward the doorway, but not before stopping and looking back at Shadow and Scarlet.

  Both watched me with the intensity of hunters to their prey.

  While not willing to succumb to their relentless stares, I did give both of them resounding, knowing nods before reaching forward and letting myself out the door.

  As I stepped out onto the plush green grass, and as I ascended the short hill that led up to the house we lived in, I couldn’t help but wonder: was this the right decision? Was I doing the right thing? And if so… was I potentially risking getting one of us killed?

  9

  I waited for hours for Guy and Aerick to return home—for both of them to be present for what would be the grand unveiling of what I hoped would be my master plan. Guy was the first to arrive home, given his schedule, and though he initially questioned me with the intensity of a badger going after its honey, I shook him off and told him that it had to wait.

  Aerick’s not here, I’d said.

  Why can’t you just explain it to me now and then him later? he’d replied.

  I just can’t.

  He sulked, ignorant to my reasoning and even more stubborn in his attempts to blockade me from his emotions. I knew he wasn’t glamoring me—of that I was certain—but even looking at him was enough to cause me to tremble.

  By the time Aerick walked through the front door—sweaty and unaware of the conflict that was currently surging throughout our home—I was ready to burst.

  “So,” Guy said. “Now that Aerick’s back, tell us what’s going on.”

  “Wait,” Aerick said as he closed the door behind him. “What’re you talking about?”

  “Jason’s been keeping something from me for hours and has been refusing to say anything until you’re present. So, out with it, J—now.”

  With a sigh, and with everything I could muster, I told them of my thoughts, my plans, my talk with Scarlet and the preparations that we had undertook in order to make this as simple a venture as possible. By the time I finished—breathless, heart hammering and chest heavy—both men appeared ready to jump on me with questions.

  “It has to be done,” I said after a moment’s hesitation. “It just has to.”

  “The Agency,” Guy started.

  “Are dragging their asses with this one,” I replied. I centered my gaze on Guy and tried my hardest not to falter beneath his oppressive blue eyes. “It’s either us or them, Guy. Who’s to say they won’t strike us again? Maybe when one of us is at work?”

  “But you,” Aerick started, then stopped before he could finish. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then swallowed the lump in his throat before saying, “You’re worried about the kids.”

  “I’m worried that I’ll be attacked while I’m teaching, yes.”

  “And this isn’t something the school can’t handle?” Guy frowned. “That security can’t be implemented for?”

  “I don’t even think they have metal detectors at Falls Burrow,” I replied, then sighed. “Guy… this is—”

  “Pierre all over again. I know. But you don’t even know who you’re going after.”

  “All of them,” I said.

  They weren’t words spoken lightly—words that, though pulled from the aspect of the boundless ether, weren’t weighed in stone. Rather, they were weighed in blood—our blood—and that of everything evil in the world. The thorn in my side had only continued to grow while waiting for my decision to come to a head, and though desperate to draw blood, I was determined to overcome it.

  No.

  The Sanguine would not beat me at my own game—not now, not ever, and especially not when my life had improved so drastically over the past week-and-a-half.

  You can’t let them wear you down, my consciousness kept telling me. You can’t let them win.

  I wouldn’t, either. Which was why I would go whether Aerick and Guy liked it or not.

  “So,” I said after a moment’s hesitation—when, at the brink of it all, I felt as though I were standing at the precipice and waiting to jump. “Are you guys with me?”

  “I’m game,” Aerick said.

  “Aerick!” Guy cried.

  “What?” the Howler asked. “We have to go with him, Guy.”

  “We don’t have to do anything. We can wait until the Agency gets involved—let Scarlet or Travis Alvarez do the work for us.”

  “Scarlet is doing the work,” I replied. “She just wants us there as backup.”

  Guy didn’t say anything. Hate burned in his eyes—not toward me, I knew, but toward the situation as a whole. He wanted so desperately to protect me—to shield me from the Supernatural world and all the dangers that inhabited it—but I knew that he knew he couldn’t. He was just as trapped as I was, and in this fickle game of kings, only one could come out on top.

  Nodding, and then sighing, Guy reached out, took hold of my shoulder, and said, “We’ll do it.”

  “No argument?” I asked.

  “No argument,” Guy said.

  I nodded.

  Aerick stepped forward and slid a hand into my back pocket. “So,” he said. “When are we doing this?”

  “Sooner rather than later,” I replied.

  Scarlet was ready to leave as soon as tonight.

  Though I wasn’t sure if I would ever be ready to face the Sanguine and end this once and for all, I knew that something had to be done.

  With that in mind, I turned and made my way toward the front door.

  “Where’re you going?” Aerick asked as his hand slid from my pocket.

  “To talk to Scarlet,” I replied. “It’s time to end this.”

  PART 5

  1

  The humid evening air blew through the camper’s side windows as we made our way down I-35 and toward the San Antonian area known for its Friesenhan Caves. My stomach in knots, my heart weighing ever so heavily within my chest, I watched as Scarlet unfurled a burlap sack and revealed the weapons within.

  Crosses with blades on the points, daggers with silver veins running through their blades, swords with gems of great and significant power adorning their hilts and guns equipped with silver bullets—these were the weapons that a Hunter used to combat the walking dead, and through them purge what were undoubtedly creatures from another world.

  “You’ve got your choice of stuff here,” Scarlet said, lifting one of the crosses and then pushing a button to reveal the switchblade-like contraptions within the cross’ points. “This one is like the one I used back in Fredericksburg, sans the light.”

  “Crosses really work on them?” I asked.

  “They’re repulsed by them, yes. But it isn’t like in the movies where you can hold one out and it’ll repel the vampire. You have to actually cut the head off and burn the body for it to work.”

  “I’ll take the gun,” Guy said, lifting the simple pistol—black and emblazoned with silver along its edges—from the burlap sack.

  “What about you, Aerick?” I asked. “What are you taking?”

  “These bad boys,” Aerick said, lifting his hands to reveal blackened, elongated nails. “I’ll tear them apart before they’ll ever lay a hand on us.”

  “Are you sure that’ll work?” I asked.

  “You’re being paranoid, Jason. Calm down.”

  How anyone expected me to remain calm when we were walking into what was undoubtedly a deathtrap I couldn’t be sure, but regardless, I steeled myself for what was soon to come before reaching forward and drawing the sterling silver sword from its hilt. “I can use this and my magic,” I said.

  “That should do it,” Scarlet said.

  “And kill anything that comes my way,” I finished.

  The Huntress nodded and secured her personalized guns with the red SJ calligraphy at her waist. She then pulled, from a drawer at her side, the very blinding-white cross she’d used at the Kaldr family ranch and slid it into a notch at her belt befo
re pulling even more daggers and other miscellaneous gear—including what appeared to be bombs of some sort.

  By the time she finished, the woman appeared ready to walk into a warzone—which, technically, I guessed we were. It wasn’t as though we were going in peacefully.

  I considered the sword I was holding—three feet long and nearly light as a feather—before raising my eyes to look up at the front window.

  Signs for San Antonio were quickly becoming commonplace. Soon, we would be turning off for the Friesenhan Caves exit and making our way into the flock’s nest.

  Hopefully we wouldn’t get hurt. Or end up dead.

  “Everyone ready for this?” I asked.

  No one responded.

  Of course no one was ready, except maybe Scarlet.

  Tonight was our night of reckoning.

  Soon, we would make our way into the flock’s nest and hopefully kill every vampire we encountered.

  I could only hope that we’d make it out alive.

  2

  The do not cross tape was stark and bold against a roadway that otherwise should have been open to the public. Sprawled across road blockades that couldn’t be run over, Scarlet was forced to disembark from the camper to move them out of the way while Shadow, Guy, Aerick and I waited for the inevitable.

  “You doing ok?” Guy asked.

  I nodded, tightening my grip on the hilt of Scarlet’s loaned sword. “Yeah,” I lied. “I’m fine.”

  Truth was: I was terrified, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He probably already knew it anyway, but judging from the way his eyes were set toward the road and his mouth was pursed in a silent frown, he seemed too preoccupied with the events at hand to even consider my emotions.

  Aerick, meanwhile, was biting his nails—which, in their elongated and thickened state, could not be broken.

  “You’re going to cut your lip open,” I said.

  “I know,” the Howler replied, but continued to do it anyway.

  A knock came at the camper’s door, startling me from thought. A short moment later, Scarlet entered and said, “We can go.”

  “I see,” Shadow said, then began to drive.