Shadow Rising

by Cassi Carver

  He was beginning to shake, and Kara didn’t like the look of it at all. Damn her and her willpower. She’d known having sex with him was a bad idea.

  Within seconds, Gavin appeared at the foot of the bed, his eyes scanning the room. “Yes?”

  Then he saw them, tangled up on the bed, Kara lying naked across Julian’s body, and he looked down, some dark emotion creasing his brow.

  Kara rose and covered Julian with a blanket. “He’s not feeling well. I’ve given him blood, but maybe he needs more…”

  Gavin averted his gaze from Kara’s naked body, meeting Julian’s eyes instead. “Aiden is preparing the mark of the Maker for a special blood ritual. We’ve never had need to try it before, but then we’ve never encountered a weak Aniliáre that we would want to help.”

  Julian growled at Gavin’s words—probably the “weak” part. Even now, as he blinked, looking as though he was fighting to stay awake, he still thought he was a badass.

  Kara’s hands knotted, the tips of her nails biting into her palms. “Take him now, Gavin. Hurry.”

  Gavin nodded and approached Julian, but Julian pushed him away and stumbled to his feet. He came to Kara and kissed her once more.

  She felt the tumult of emotion behind the kiss and answered it with her lips against his. “I love you.”

  He smiled, trying to support himself on weak knees. “Of everything, being loved by you will be my greatest memory.”

  And with Julian’s gaze still holding hers, Gavin reached out and carried Julian from her life.

  For a long time after they left, Kara simply sat naked on the edge of the bed with her head buried in her hands. Then finally, she rose and pulled the vial from the nightstand drawer.

  “Time to get this over with.” Time to bring Abbey and Jaxon home.

  She pulled out the card with the number she was supposed to call and dialed. She could tell it was Claudius as soon as he answered. “Yes?”

  She tightened her fist around the vial. “I have it.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  She heard his soft intake of breath across the line. “This had better not be a trick. If I find out you substituted—”

  “Claude. I have it. But Abbey isn’t back yet, so we’re gonna have to wait to do the ritual.”

  He laughed. “So that’s it. You’re stalling. I knew you couldn’t get the blood.”

  “It’s in my hand.”

  “Then bring it to me.”

  Kara sighed. “You can’t come pick it up?”

  “I’m not going to do your work for you. I’ll be waiting in the parking lot of the Jamul coven grounds. You have one hour.”

  “Crap!” Kara said into the phone at the sound of him disconnecting. She cleared the screen and dialed Tray.

  “Kara?” His voice was tense. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I stopped by your place like five times. Are you okay?”

  No, my insides were ripped out, and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. “I’m fine.”

  “Where have you been? I was worried.”

  “Gavin and I were helping Julian get situated.”

  “Black-wing Julian?”

  “Yeah.” He was quiet, so Kara continued. “I have the blood for Abbey, and I need your help.”

  Gavin and Julian materialized in Julian’s old room, and Gavin could tell by his friend’s expression that he didn’t recognize it.

  “Aiden!” Gavin called, his hand on Aiden’s charm.

  Within seconds, the blond-haired lord appeared beside them. “I was just next door,” he started to say, but when he saw Julian he stopped, and a smile spread across his face. He stepped forward and slapped Julian on the back. “By Brakken’s bow—it is you!”

  Julian growled, his fangs extending and his lips curling back from his teeth. Gavin quickly got between the two before Aiden had a chance to do something else that might send the weakening Aniliáre over the edge. “Yes, it’s Julian. As I told you, he needs our help.”

  “Of course.” It seemed to be occurring to Aiden that Julian didn’t recognize him, but that apparently didn’t diminish Aiden’s joy over seeing him again. “So what is it like?”

  Julian stepped back and almost stumbled. Gavin could see he was trying to hold himself straight, but fatigue was etched into the curve of his spine and the droop of his shoulders.

  “What is what like?” Julian asked, his voice colder than sleet.

  “To experience the first Shadow Rising? To go from a demibreed to a true Son of the Sky?”

  Julian squinted and rubbed the back of his knuckles across his forehead. “I wouldn’t know.”

  Aiden looked surprised. “What do you mean you don’t know? Those look like black wings coming from your back.”

  “Yes, but I don’t know what it feels like to be a demibreed.” With a moan, Julian dropped to his knees and grabbed his head in both hands.

  “You stupid sack of wing dust,” Gavin growled at Aiden. “We don’t have time for family reunions. He doesn’t have much longer.”

  Concern registered on Aiden’s face for the first time. “How was I to know he was that bad off? You left him with Kara for almost an hour, and I don’t have one minute to welcome him home?”

  “Did you prepare the mark?”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to risk flashing with him in this state. Help me carry him down to the main hall. The others should be there shortly.”

  Gavin picked up Julian under the arms, and Aiden got his feet. “I can walk,” Julian protested, his words weak and winded.

  “I know you can, brother,” Gavin replied, as he and Aiden brought him swiftly down the stairs. “Just tuck your wings back for me. We’re almost there.” Julian had always been proud, but to be a black-wing and have to rely on another to carry him must have been insufferable.

  Gavin had spent a good portion of the hour here talking to Aiden until he felt convinced Aiden was stable enough to do the ceremony. Aiden had assured him that since Riana, he hadn’t had another female. But addictions were never that easy to dismiss. It would be weeks before Gavin let his guard down again around Aiden, and weeks beyond that before he believed the other lord wasn’t in danger of slipping back into old patterns. It was just the two of them now, for better or worse. And Gavin needed him.

  On the white marble of the entry hall, Aiden had constructed a large isosceles triangle with crushed lapis lazuli. Careful not to disturb the thin blue line, Gavin started to lay Julian down in the center.

  “No,” Aiden said, still holding firm. “I’ll cross his feet at the ankles and position them at the tip of the triangle. You stretch his arms out along the bottom, and place one hand at each corner.”

  In a thousand years, Gavin had seen the mark of the Maker several times but he’d never had occasion to use it himself. From his angle of view, it appeared as though Julian was lying in an upside-down triangle, with the flat base over his head and his feet tucked into the point at the bottom. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

  “It had better,” Aiden answered. “I used our entire supply of lapis lazuli to make it.”

  “Kara?” Julian shifted and pulled his arms to his chest.

  “It’s all right, brother.” Gavin moved Julian’s hands back into position. “Don’t move now. Kara is fine.”

  Julian was his oldest friend, and Gavin wondered how, after so many centuries together, they could have come to this moment. Julian, on the cusp of the Abyss, a black-wing, with the name of the woman Gavin loved on his lips and her scent on his body. But Julian deserved Kara. He deserved happiness more than Gavin ever would.

  Aiden flipped through the pages of an ancient tome and laid it open beside them on the cold marble.

  “Bring me the vial,” Julian murmured, but he didn’t resist the pressure of Gavin’s hands locking his wrists into place. “Bring it quickly.”

  Gavin brushed the sticky black hair from Julian’s forehead. He didn’t like the delirious gleam in Julian’s eyes or the sickly
hue of his normally tan skin. “Kara is not here. But I will bring her to you one day. I promise.”

  “I must give her the blood. It’s all she’s asked of me.”

  “No, brother. Your blood is going to stay right where it is. The blood of the Aniliáre in the wrong hands causes nothing but grief. You did the right thing. We will find another way to help her friend.”

  Aiden rose with the book in his hands. “Get out of the mark, Gavin. And Julian, lie still. It will only be a minute longer.”

  Just then, footsteps padded up the stones to the front entrance of the palace. Liel entered with two women in tow, one a buxom blonde camp companion and the other, a wrinkled witch who lived on the outskirts of the village. She’d been old when they’d moved her here twenty-six years ago. Now she looked ancient.

  “Sarah,” Gavin greeted the witch. “Thank you for coming.” He didn’t know the human’s name.

  “Anything for Julian. He’s like a son to me.”

  Seeing as he was asking for her blood, Gavin didn’t feel it was the right time to point out that Julian was nine hundred years Sarah’s senior. She’d always been helpful and kind to the clan as the head sorceress in residence.

  The young, flaxen-haired female was frightened and edged away from the mark when Liel released her elbow. “Do you need me here?” Liel asked. “Olivia’s labor isn’t progressing as easily as we’d hoped, and with you lords occupied, I would like to stay with her.”

  Aiden cursed and glanced at Gavin. “Our first clan birth. I’m supposed to be there.” Then he turned to Liel. “Hold her off if I’m not back yet. I will deliver that child.”

  Liel’s eyebrows inched up. “I…eh…I will do my best, my lord.”

  Gavin shook his head. They had no time to lose. “Go, Liel. May the wind lift your wings.”

  Liel paused. “Will he be all right…the black-wing?”

  “He’s Julian,” Aiden told him. “He may not have the same essence, but it’s there, under the surface. This is your lord returned from the grave.”

  Liel bowed his head in respect as he backed away, but his expression showed he wasn’t fully convinced. He turned and left quickly through the entrance hall.

  “What is your name?” Aiden asked the human woman.

  “Mia,” she answered, her voice a tiny squeak.

  “Mia.” When Aiden approached her, Gavin felt the power of his will extending. “We’re not going to hurt you. Well…not much. But it’s a very worthy cause. Will you help us?”

  “Yes.” She shook back her long blond hair and began to lift her shirt over her breasts.

  Aiden caught her hand and smoothed her shirt down. “Not that kind of help. Not now, anyway.”

  Julian moaned again and wrapped his hands around his chest. Gavin’s heart almost skipped a beat when the edges of Julian’s form went misty. “Julian,” he bellowed. “Don’t let go. Fight it.”

  “Hurry,” Aiden said to the women. “Mia, stand here at the left corner, and Sarah, the right. Gavin, you take his feet.”

  Gavin quickly readjusted Julian’s hands, then went to stand in his appointed spot. With his book open, Aiden withdrew a knife from his belt and walked to Mia. “Hold out your hand.”

  She held her hand out to him as he read from the book. “Maker of the skies, creator of the realms and the creatures within, hear our plea.”

  Aiden ran the blade across the woman’s palm, cutting deep enough that blood ran freely. He grasped her wrist and thrust her hand over Julian’s, so the blood dripped onto him and the corner of the triangle. “Quickly, Mia, read the first verse.”

  He held the book out to her, and she began with a tremulous voice, “In the name of the Children of the Sun, we welcome you to this realm and grant you quarter.”

  Sweat broke out on Gavin’s forehead. Julian’s eyes seemed to be rolling restlessly in their sockets as he fought to hold on.

  Aiden walked to the other corner of the triangle and smiled reassuringly at Sarah. “Your hand?”

  After he cut her palm, she held it out, dripping blood from her corner of the triangle to Julian’s curled fingers. Without glancing at the pages, she continued, “Julian Mercés, in the name of the People of the Earth, we surround you with nature’s light and seal your body.”

  Then Aiden came to Gavin and without a word, swiped the blade over his hand. Gavin allowed the blood to drain over Julian’s feet.

  “In the name of the Sons of the Sky, we ask for strength for your journey,” Aiden said, his voice strong and sure.

  As soon as the final word left Aiden’s mouth, Julian’s body started, as if he’d been dropped from the heavens. His eyes flashed open, still looking confused, but his outline was once again a sharp and substantial contrast against the pale stones.

  Aiden closed the book. “It’s finished. This won’t buy him long, but if it worked, he’ll be strengthened for the journey to his new home.”

  “How do we know if it worked?” Gavin asked.

  Aiden smiled, the pale stubble on his chin catching the light. “Well, he’s still here, which must be a good sign.”

  Kara curled against the passenger side of Tray’s car, her hand folded against her cheek. Once Abbey was safe, Kara was going to devote the rest of her days to figuring out how she could get to Julian. She refused to think that this was the end. At least her blood had allowed Gavin to get to him in time. And if Aiden’s special ceremony worked liked Gavin thought it would, Julian was probably already halfway to the Shadowland by now. She had to believe that just to draw the next breath. Otherwise…what was the point?

  Tray was quiet on the ride to Jamul, and he hadn’t even been a smart-ass once. “Thanks again,” she said quietly. “I don’t deserve you being such a good friend to me. I know we were never close before, but it’s been nice having you on my team this week.”

  “It’s fine.”

  He wasn’t smiling, and Kara could feel the unease in him. It was weird. Usually she could feel simple emotion only from those she was closest to, like Abbey and Jaxon, but for some reason, she’d always gotten stronger vibes from Tray than the average person, even though she’d never really considered them friends until recently.

  His grip tightened on the wheel, and Kara frowned. “What’s bothering you?”

  “Nothing,” he answered. “Just…uh…be careful tonight.”

  “Are you getting a bad feeling or something?”

  His jaw flexed. “Yeah. Something like that. I’m getting a bad feeling.”

  Kara raised her brows and looked out the window down the long, gently winding road leading to Jamul. It was dark, but the way was still beautiful in its simplicity—rolling hills and chaparral that stretched on and on.

  Tray’s car slowly rounded the corner, nearing the coven ground. “This is what’s gonna happen tonight—I’m going with you, and I’m taking my gun.”

  “Oh, jeez, Tray. Dramatic much? This is Abbey’s uncle. He’s taking the blood to heal the woman you love, remember?”

  He rubbed a hand over his short blond hair and mumbled under his breath, “Fuck.” Then he pulled into the lot and parked under the sprawling canopy of an oak, parking on the opposite side from the other three cars already there.

  Kara’s skin prickled. “You don’t get premonitions, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Just fucking trust me, okay? That’s all I’m saying.”

  Kara’s nostrils flared. She didn’t like Tray’s attitude, and she couldn’t figure out why he was being such a jerk all of a sudden. “Okay, Detective, why don’t you stand behind your car door and cover me? I’m sure Claudius will love that.”

  He shook his head, not even cracking a smile. Kara shrugged and got out of the car. The night wasn’t the only thing that was dark, even the air seemed heavy and oppressive. She scanned the dim lot for Claudius and saw him standing near the first car. When she started toward him, she heard Tray get out and follow.

  �
�Kara,” Claudius greeted her. He was leaning slightly against the frame of the black sedan, as though he’d been there for a while. “I’m glad you’re a woman of your word and took our agreement seriously.”

  She forced her lips into a semblance of a smile. “I would do anything for Abbey. I told you that.” Kara felt Tray standing at her shoulder. The tension in him reached out to her, filtering through her skin.

  “I didn’t ask you to bring anyone.”

  “He’s a friend of Abbey’s.”

  Claudius glanced behind Kara to where Tray was standing, and his voice dropped to a new degree of cold. “I know who he is.”

  Kara fished the vial out of her pocket, and Claudius’s eyes tracked her movement. He stood upright and stepped away from the car. “Is that it?”

  “Yes. The blood of a black-wing.”

  “I’m honestly amazed. How did you get it?”

  “A friend.”

  “Well, you made the right decision. I’ll take it now.” When Kara dropped the vial into his extended hand, Claudius’s smile stretched ear to ear. “You know, I would have been satisfied to have you indebted to me. I never believed you’d get the blood.”

  “Indebted wouldn’t help Abbey, would it?”

  Tray tensed, and Kara felt the same sense of wrongness she’d felt on her first visit to the Jamul coven. Then witches began filtering out from the mouth of the cave and from behind the thick trunks of the oaks surrounding them.

  Kara stared at Claudius, not needing to look around the lot to know that at least a dozen witches had surrounded her and Tray. “What’s this all about, Claude? One last display of what a scary warlock you are? You think beating us up is going to help? You have the blood.”

  His eyes glinting in the light of the moon, Claudius pulled the jeweled stopper from the vial and tilted his head back, draining the contents into his mouth.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kara gasped. “What are you doing? That was for Abbey!”

  As Kara’s jaw was dropping, Tray kicked into motion behind her, pulling the gun and aiming it at the high priest’s heart. “Don’t move!” he shouted. “You’re under arrest.”