Shadow Blade

by Seressia Glass

  “Understood.”

  “All right then, people. Let’s synch up and then head out. We’ve got a big night ahead.”

  The meeting was over. The band members exited. Kira, the warrior, and her friends stood and moved toward the door. Sanchez looked up from a sheaf of papers she shuffled on the conference table. “Solomon.”

  Kira paused at the door, steeling herself for whatever comment the section chief felt the need to make. “Yes?”

  “Good job bringing everyone together. I have no doubt that everyone will do their best giving tactical support.” She gave Kira a sharp nod. “Good luck.”

  Completely surprised, Kira returned the gesture. “Thanks, Section Chief.”

  Kira and her friends left the conference room, heading for the elevator. Wynne stepped up next to her. “Hey, Kira—”

  “Not yet.” She made a vague gesture to encompass all of Gilead. “In the van.”

  Minutes later, Wynne pulled the van out of the parking deck and onto Peachtree Street

  . Concern filled her features. “This is going to work, isn’t it?”

  “It has to,” Kira answered. “We don’t have any other options.”

  “Not any with a better probability for success, at least,” Khefar added.

  “We’re going to come through this just fine,” Zoo said with his eternal enthusiasm. He’d recharged enough to finish healing his arm, but enough stiffness lingered for Kira to use that as an excuse to have them on tech duty.

  Kira glanced out the window. It was a beautiful fall day, the kind that inspired poets and painters. What would tomorrow look like? Would she even see it? “Of course we will, and we’ll commandeer the upper deck at the Vortex and gorge ourselves on Tater tots to celebrate.”

  Zoo laughed. “Now that sounds like a plan.”

  They spent the rest of the drive to Kira’s debating which of the Vortex’s burgers were the best. It was a light-hearted moment that Kira tucked away in her memory. She’d need moments like this, memories like this, to combat the hold Shadow had on her.

  The van slowed to a stop before Kira’s front door. “Hey guys, thanks again for taking part in this,” Kira said as Khefar slid the side door open.

  “Like we’d do anything else,” Wynne said, rolling her eyes. Then her expression hardened. “Besides, we owe the bastard for what he did to you.”

  “What he did to all of us,” Zoo added quietly.

  Kira’s throat tightened. She stepped onto the sidewalk, blowing out a sigh. “Khefar will give you guys a call when everything’s a go. Take care of yourselves, all right?”

  “Back at you.” Zoo passed a wooden box through the window to Khefar. “Here’s the dagger. If anything’s off with it, let us know. Otherwise, we’ll see you guys in a little while.”

  Chapter 27

  Kira and Khefar made their way inside as the Marlowes drove away. They headed for the reclaimed dining table. “You ready to take a look?” Khefar asked, placing the longish oak box on the tabletop.

  At her nod, he flipped the brass latch, then lifted the lid.

  She blew out a sigh, then turned to Khefar. “So what do you think?”

  Khefar looked down at the dagger. “I think Wynne Marlowe is a genius.”

  The replica Dagger of Kheferatum was as breathtaking as the original. The bronze and ivory gleamed with a combined sheen of age and magic. It looked just like the real one, so much so that it was eerie.

  Kira smiled. “There’s a reason why she’s the best metalworker in the country. Go ahead, pick it up.”

  He did, testing the weight and balance. “Amazing. If I didn’t have the real one on my hip expressing its outrage at the impostor, I’d swear it was the same blade.”

  “With Zoo’s skill, we put a little attitude into the new dagger. We wanted it to think that it’s the Dagger of Kheferatum.”

  “You certainly did that right. I’m very impressed. It just needs one more thing.”

  Before she could say anything, he slashed the blade across his left bicep, drawing blood. “Now they’ll believe you didn’t take it away from me without a fight.”

  “Goddess.” She ran into the kitchen, grabbed the first-aid kit, then ran back to him. She tucked his arm close to her body as she dabbed at the gash with a sterile wipe. “Do you think you could warn someone before you do that?”

  “You know I’ll heal from that, right?” Amusement lined his tone.

  “So? We put extra levels of surprises into that blade,” she exclaimed, wiping at the blood on his arm. “You could have made sure it wouldn’t be dangerous for you before you did something like that.”

  “What can I say?” He smiled at her. “I guess I have a reckless demeanor at times myself.”

  “Not funny.”

  “You’re becoming more at ease with touching me.”

  She stopped dabbing at the cut. He was right and it left her flustered. She applied a butterfly bandage with more force than necessary. “Well, don’t get used to it. It’s not like it means I’m getting used to you hanging around or anything like that.”

  “Of course not.” Khefar shook his head, sliding the replica into his own sheath he’d taken from his waist. The real dagger was safely housed in a new rigging just under his left arm. “Are you good with this?”

  “It’s a plan concocted with a guy who’s fought in thousands of battles large and small and perfected by a trickster demigod. Everyone who needs to be on board is ready to go, and all I have to do is make it through a meeting with a Shadow Avatar who’s already mind-raped me once. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  He held the blade out to her. “I don’t have to tell you to be careful, do I?”

  “No, you don’t.” She took the blade, shouldering into the harness and settling the sheath into the middle of her back. Her own Lightblade lay at her hip. “Besides, you’ll be right behind me.”

  “Remember that.” His hands settled on her shoulders. “It’s okay to be a hero. It’s not okay to be a superhero.”

  “Really? And I just put a shiny new cape on order.”

  “I’m serious, Kira.” His grip tightened. “We stop Enig and we both walk out of the DMZ more or less in one piece.”

  “I understand.” She briefly covered his hands with her own. She appreciated these easy gestures more than she dared to let him know. Since her run-in with Enig, Khefar had been a literal and figurative lifeline to her, his touch and his understanding a healing balm to her psyche. She still felt the heaviness in her soul, but as each moment passed, the burden became a little easier to bear.

  “Nothing is more important than stopping Enig.”

  “Good.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I have a feeling that once we get this done, a certain demigod is going to produce one heck of a feast.”

  “I think that scares me more than facing down the Fallen.”

  She looked around her home, at the comfortable clutter, the subtle changes that had occurred in the week since she’d met Khefar and Nansee. They’d warmed the place with their presence, and she was glad for it. “I want you to know, I reworked the magical protections around the place this morning. Everything but the standard alarm will vanish once I’m no longer around, and you already know the code for that.”

  He stared down at her with the most absolute self-assurance she’d ever seen. “I have no intention of losing you today.”

  “I know and I appreciate that. You’re the one who said to plan for any contingency, so I’m planning.” She looked up into his strong features, the implacable resolve. “Wynne and Zoo have access to my safe deposit box and my will. Everything is accounted for except my Book of the Dead, which is in my altar room and recoded to allow you entry. If you have to unmake me, I want you to take my book and the contents of that room.”

  “Kira . . . ” Now he looked uncomfortable.

  She squeezed his fingers. “It’s just in case, right? I know of everyone, you’ll appreciate those things the most, and it makes me happy
to think of you having them.”

  “Very well. I’ll consider it an honor.” He dropped his gaze. “Kira?”

  “Yeah?”

  When she turned around, he hooked one hand behind her head, dragged her close, then kissed her. Just one sharp, quick, potent press of lips that she felt all the way to her toes.

  He broke away. “If you didn’t like that, you can punch me later.”

  “What if I did?”

  He smiled. “Then you can punch me later. But for now, it is time to prepare for the rendezvous.”

  With the duplicate dagger strapped to her back, Kira took her second loaner SUV to the rendezvous at the DMZ, trying to keep her mind on anything but what she was about to face. Difficult to do when she was equal parts scared shitless at facing Enig again and unnerved by Khefar. It had probably been a deliberate tactic on his part, to distract her from the worry of trying to eliminate someone she’d already underestimated once before. Worry weakens and allows fear to seep in. Fear can destroy.

  She had to do it. They had to do it. The Avatar had to be stopped. There was no alternative. Khefar couldn’t just disappear with the Dagger of Kheferatum and hope to stay off the Fallen’s radar. If they didn’t stop Enig here, now, more and more beings from Shadow would come after Khefar and his dagger. Since destroying the dagger was out of the question, they had to take a stand. And it was much better to make a stand on their own terms.

  The club looked more bleak than industrial-cool by the light of day. The place looked its worst at dusk though, when the metal structure glowed the burnished red-orange of the setting sun. Or blood.

  She parked the SUV and got out, preparing to take the first of many gambles. The DMZ’s security system had, she hoped, been turned off. Her bet was that Enig would insist and that Demoz would comply. She hedged the bet with the thought she wouldn’t be able to take the blade inside anyway with the system activated. Another reason for Demoz to have it turned off. She’d keep her extrasense on a low flame as a matter of course.

  No line of patrons was strung along the sidewalk outside of the club. No lizard-eyed coat-check girl unable to identify her as a Shadowchaser. Just the bouncer with the large-sized plugs in his ears.

  His attitude was different this time around. Her new reputation as a Shadow-touched Chaser had obviously preceded her. “Chaser,” he said with a quick acknowledging nod of his head. “The boss is waiting for you.”

  “Where?”

  “The main office.”

  She pushed through the Veil long enough to verify the metaphysical security system was truly deactivated.

  Her nerves stretched tight as she pushed open the double doors. Same bare-bulb T-shaped corridor, same choice for Light or Dark. Just as before, she swung through the Shadow side, moving swiftly down the corridor.

  Music wasn’t blaring as it would when the club opened, but she could hear Inviolate practicing. She bit back a smile. Good. Another key component in place.

  She skirted the Pit, then made her way up the back stairs to Demoz’s office. Two sets of halflings waited just outside the office. They grinned as she approached.

  “Oh, I remember you,” one said.

  “Yeah, you taste really good,” the other added.

  She stopped. “Really?”

  The first halfling stepped closer. “I’d like to taste that again.”

  It took a moment for her to realize that he meant they had been at the warehouse near the airport when Enig had injected her with Shadow poison. They’d been among the ones who’d touched her, triggering her defenses, before releasing her among the homeless like a fox in a henhouse.

  She crashed the heel of her hand, spiced with a solid dose of her extrasense, into the halfling’s nose. The resulting crunch was satisfying. So was his crumpling to kiss her boot. “Next time, say please.”

  She sauntered into the office. Demoz, who had been sitting behind his desk, rose as she entered. More halfings and one Adept held up the walls. The Shadow Avatar sat in one of the two chairs flanking the gigantic cluster of clear quartz that served as a table and energy amplifier. Goody, the gang was all there.

  Demoz stared at her with a good impression of a questioning look on his face. “Welcome, Chaser. But I must admit . . . I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do anything so . . . not you, Kira.”

  “Well, I’m not the same person I was a few days ago,” she said, nodding to the Avatar. “Am I, Enig?”

  The Avatar steepled his fingers, his white suit brilliant against the black chair. “You came alone?”

  “In the end, aren’t we all alone?”

  The hybrid she’d punched hobbled up to him. “She came alone, Master.”

  “Go clean yourself up. You embarrass me.” Enig turned back to her. “I must say that when our host told me that you would arrive today with the Dagger of Kheferatum, I was tempted to discount him. And yet, here you are. Why did you change your mind?”

  “Kinda had my mind changed for me, didn’t I?” She allowed her real anger at the Avatar to bubble to the surface as she took the chair opposite his. Use the true fury to fuel the deception. “Whatever you did to me was, pardon the expression, enlightening. The clock’s running down on my time at Gilead, I already knew that, and your little display a few days ago left a permanent stain on my soul. If I am no longer worthy of my goddess’s favor or walking in the Light, what else is there left for me?”

  Enig looked at Demoz, who looked at her. The vampire’s midnight face dripped sweat. He actually looked worried and more than a little uneasy.

  He pulled out a handkerchief, blotted his forehead. “She means every word,” he said, his voice tight. “She’s telling the truth.”

  “So you have it? The Dagger of Kheferatum?”

  She reached for the sheath nestled between her shoulder blades, the dagger singing softly as she pulled it free. She held it across her body, the glyphs catching the light. “Is this what you’ve been looking for?”

  Enig leaned forward, preternaturally beautiful face tarnishing with greed. “How were you able to get it away from the Nubian?”

  “There’s blood on the blade,” Demoz said, his voice hushed.

  “Yeah, about that.” Kira let a grin pull at her lips. “It’s amazing what you can do to people when they make the mistake of trusting you.”

  “Too true,” Enig murmured. “For example, I do not trust you, Shadowchaser.”

  “And I really don’t care.” She rose. “You want the blade or not?”

  Enig rose. “Try to leave and I will kill you.”

  “Dude, I’m dead already. The Nubian’s going to be pissed when he resurrects and Gilead’s not going to be happy with me either. All I want are the answers you promised me.”

  “And you shall have them.” He held out his hand. “Give the dagger to me.”

  “Sure.” She twirled the dagger so that the hilt pointed his way. “If you think that the dagger will accept you, go ahead, take it.”

  He reached out.

  “But I have to warn you—if the dagger doesn’t like you, it will definitely let you know.”

  His eyes fixed on hers. She maintained the stare, her arm steady as she held the dagger out. Movement out of the corner of her eye as she noticed his hand come up, wrap around the dagger’s hilt.

  His face split into a grin. “I knew sparing your life in Venice was the right thing to do.”

  “Wh-what did you say?”

  “I told you, Shadowchaser, I’ve been planning this for a long time, making plans, gathering weapons. I discovered you in Venice. How do you think your precious Nico acquired the serum that stripped your powers? You do remember that, don’t you? It was such a beautiful night.”

  Blood pounded in her ears. “You killed Nico.”

  “No, my dear Chaser. I didn’t make you take the potion. You willingly gave up your powers, even though you knew the consequences. And I knew then that a Shadowchaser so willing to part with her blade and her powers would be a perfec
t weapon for me to use one day.” Enig’s smile widened. “And so you are.”

  He pulled the dagger out of her limp hand. “The Dagger of Kheferatum is mine!”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Khefar stood in the doorway, blade in one hand.

  “What is this?” Enig hissed.

  “Call it an intervention.” She pulled her Lightblade, called her power.

  Both she and Khefar leaped at the same time. Just as she hoped, Enig hopped onto the slab of quartz. As Khefar kept the Avatar distracted, she slapped the slick surface with her bare hand, flooding it with power. It triggered the spell Zoo had buried into the hilt of the fake dagger. A prism of blue-white light shot up from the gleaming slab of stone, encircling Enig.

  He screamed. Energy crackled and hummed, lifting her hair. Kira channeled more power into the slab, supercharging the giant crystal, counting on its properties to amplify her ability and literally separate the Fallen from its Avatar host.

  Yellow light flared as Enig threw Shadow-magic at the metaphysical sieve. Kira grimly held on, hoping that Zoo’s second spell had kicked in and the impostor dagger was on its way to deteriorating. Hoping too that Khefar had her back and was making short work of the Shadowlings stupid enough to stay around.

  Sweat stung her eyes, pain throbbing through her body. “Separate, damn you!”

  Pressure built like a tornado was approaching, filling every crevice of the room. Enig shrieked, throwing raw Chaos at the prism trapping him as his two selves finally began to separate into a human husk and a twisting boiling darkness. Now. She focused her intent again, trying to channel the Fallen into the quartz. A sonic boom ripped through the office, shattering the soundproof windows overlooking the club, followed by popping that sounded like gunfire. Was that Gilead’s team making their presence known or the quartz overloading?

  Kira blinked rapidly. Either complete silence had fallen or the boom had deafened her. She couldn’t hear the ceiling crashing down around them, couldn’t hear the crystal cracking beneath her hands, couldn’t hear Khefar shouting as he tried to reach her. Couldn’t hear anything until the Avatar, bits of the Fallen still clinging to him, slammed into her, the remnant of the impostor dagger sinking deep into her shoulder.