Shadow's Messenger: An Aileen Travers Novel

by T. A. White

  Chapter Four

  I was out the door and in the alley before she even finished falling.

  A howl rose from the basement.

  I cringed. It was so loud.

  I needed to get to Jerry’s car before her racket alerted the pack. I ran in that direction.

  Another howl rose. You would have thought the basement would at least muffle the sound a little. From around the block, several other voices lifted in answer.

  I ground to a halt. At least a few of them sounded like they were coming from the direction I needed to go.

  Shit. They’d catch me before I could reach the car. Or worse they’d catch me after I got in the car and damage it trying to get me out.

  Okay, new plan. I’d leave the car behind and return for it later.

  Decision made, I wasted no time in changing course, taking off between two buildings, running through several backyards and hopping more than one fence.

  Two streets over I nearly ran headfirst into a pool, swerving at the last minute and yelping when a shadow flew past me, landing in the water with a splash. The smell of wet dog and the sound of yips told me the shadow was a werewolf. I hadn’t even seen the beast until it missed me.

  They were hunting me. Needed to move faster.

  I leapt another fence. It was near impossible to listen for the sound of pursuit over my own clumsy fumbling. They probably didn’t even have to use their noses to get my scent. They could just listen for the elephant currently stomping all over someone’s rose bushes.

  The smell of my own blood rose to greet me when one of the thorns scratched me. Great. Another way to announce my presence. Why didn’t I just run along shouting, “Here! Here!” and save them the trouble of tracking me?

  Seeing a dumpster behind an apartment complex, I darted towards it. The smell was not pleasant. Not nearly as bad as the murderer’s smell but not a perfume I wanted on me either. It would do the job. I jumped in and stomped on the bags a few times then hopped back out.

  I paused before running off again. Wouldn’t they be able to still tell it was me? My scent marker led directly to the dumpster. By simple process of elimination, it would be easy to tell that the dumpster smell running away from the site was me.

  I didn’t know how sensitive a werewolf’s nose was. All I had to go on was urban fantasy fiction books. They all seemed to think the nose was pretty sensitive. Just like a working dog’s. They could sniff out bombs and drugs. Stood to reason a werewolf’s nose could do something similar.

  I was overthinking this.

  The roof wasn’t that far up. I could take it and drop onto the other side of the building. Might confuse them for a little bit.

  I took a running start, hopping onto the dumpster then leaping up to grab a window ledge. I used it to hoist myself up and over to a drain pipe that I used to climb to the roof. My bad ass ninja skills strike again. I should try out for America’s Ninja Warrior at some point. I’d be a natural.

  Once back on the ground, I took off, doubling back several times to disguise my trail as much as possible before dawn. I had no idea if it was effective or not. Most evasion tactics I knew were designed to evade humans not dogs.

  Near dawn, I found an abandoned building to hide out in. I didn’t want to go home in case I led the wolves’ right to my door step. If was I still free and alive tomorrow, I’d take the chance.

  The basement felt like the safest place to find shelter from the sun so it was with considerable reluctance that I headed down there. You’d think given my status as a big, bad vampire that I wouldn’t be afraid of whatever monsters might lurk in the dark. That wasn’t the case. I was just as afraid as I’d ever been. Maybe a little bit more.

  The ground was hard as I waited for the last bit of night to fade. As the blackness on the inside of my lids rushed up to claim me, I could only hope I’d done a good enough job hiding my trail.

  “Are you kidding me? A basement?”

  I came to wakefulness with a start.

  “What are you doing down here?”

  A kid, no more than sixteen or seventeen, glared down at me.

  I looked around in confusion. I was still in the basement. A dim light flickered overhead. Last night it wouldn’t turn on no matter how many times I flicked the switch.

  “Well?”

  The teenage boy was looking at me expectantly.

  Was he talking to me?

  Naw. He’d have to be beyond stupid to confront a stranger in a basement.

  Unless he was a teenage punk who got his kicks messing with women he thought he could bully. Well, he’d be in for a surprise then. I was feeling kind of peckish after all the activity last night.

  “Well, what?” I finally asked.

  Now that I thought about it, why wasn’t I hungrier? Yesterday I was nearly willing to rip apart my sister to get to all that lovely blood. Today, a slight pang of hunger. Maybe I was getting a handle on this appetite of mine.

  “Why the basement?” he asked, sounding very put out.

  I looked around and shrugged. “It feels safe.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It doesn’t even matter. After the way you’ve screwed up, you’ll be lucky to sleep anywhere but six feet under from now on.”

  I paid closer attention to the boy. He was tall and gangly, as if he’d had a growth spurt and now didn’t know what to do with all the extra length. His face was nice enough. He’d probably be a handsome man in a few years. Right now, he was all angles and bones with a beautiful pair of green eyes.

  He spoke like I knew him, but he didn’t look at all familiar.

  “Do I know you?” I asked.

  He frowned at me. I fought a laugh. He probably meant for me to be intimidated, but after the alpha’s stare from last night, he just seemed kind of comical.

  “Do you know me?” he semi shouted. “I’m just the guy whose delivery you screwed up.”

  I straightened. He had to be some type of supernatural. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I had ever done a job for you.”

  “Does this ring a bell?” his voice deepened and the room darkened as if someone had dialed down the light. Shadows flew from the corners to wrap around him like a cloak, rendering him invisible.

  “The sorcerer is a kid?” I asked.

  This was weird, even for this world. How could a sixteen year old boy have enough power to scare an entire city to such an extent that they didn’t even call him by name? Just the Sorcerer, like Cher or Madonna.

  The shadows flew apart leaving the boy standing there glaring at me in affront.

  “I’m not a kid. I’m over fifty years old.”

  I blinked. Impossible.

  “Uh huh.”

  His lips turned down giving him a mulish expression. The air charged and an arc of green light snapped from him, zapping me and sending me flying into the cement blocks behind me.

  My head knocked against the wall. Lights exploded behind my eyelids. I slid to the ground. I could barely move and everything hurt. It felt like someone had frozen my lungs, making it impossible to draw a full breath.

  That’s how I found out that vampires didn’t really need to breathe. That didn’t stop my lungs from trying though.

  I managed to get a look at my chest, expecting to see charred flesh. There were small singe marks on my shirt, but it and the flesh below were whole and undamaged.

  Everything in me hurt. It felt like I’d stuck my finger in a high voltage socket, only maybe worse. My mouth tasted like old pennies.

  When I had enough saliva in my mouth to speak, I asked, “What the hell?”

  He shrugged, not looking the least bit guilty. “I felt like you needed a little help to process my appearance.”

  More like torture.

  I drew myself up to sitting. My legs didn’t feel quite steady enough to attempt standing.

  A soft green light gathered around his hands. “Do you need another demonstration?”

  “Alright. Alright. I believe yo
u. You’re the sorcerer.”

  The light dyed.

  “Still doesn’t explain why you look like a sixteen-year-old kid,” I muttered.

  A tiny light, no bigger than a hair, nipped at my leg. It felt like a vicious pinch.

  “You don’t need to know,” he told me, drawing himself up to his full height and giving me another glare.

  Guess he was a little sensitive about how young he looked.

  “You owe me fifty years of service for failing to meet your part of our arrangement.” The cracking in his voice ruined his attempt at intimidation.

  I’d been afraid that was coming. I had planned to talk with Jerry to clarify what happened if the recipient was dead before delivery before speaking with the sorcerer again. Looked like that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Guy was dead when I got there.” I’d just have to figure this out myself. He couldn’t hold me to the contract if the guy was already dead.

  “Impossible.”

  It didn’t seem like he was talking to me. Instead, he stared off into space, the fingers of one hand tapping against his chin.

  “Went to the bar like you asked. Even snuck in the back entrance when they said he wasn’t there. I smelled blood and when I went to investigate I found your guy lying on the ground, dead, with a vampire crouched over him.”

  That brought his attention back to me. The room became silent as he sunk back into thought. I waited.

  “This is the absolute worst possible scenario,” he muttered.

  I wondered what he’d hoped to accomplish with his package. Had it been the reason the recipient was killed? Or was it just a weird coincidence?

  “Alright, give it to me.”

  I looked at him blankly.

  “Give what to you?”

  “My package,” he said impatiently.

  “Um. I don’t have it.”

  I’d left it and my messenger bag behind when I escaped from the werewolves.

  The air pressure built and little arcs of dark green light darted through the air. I pressed myself against the basement wall. I did not want to get hit by one of those things again. Once had been enough

  “I need that package.” His voice went deep and eerie like he was speaking from a great distance and yet right next to me at the same time. Power throbbed through every word.

  “Your package is safe. It’s still in my bag.”

  The power lifted a little and backed off. It wasn’t much, but at least I could breathe again.

  “What is to stop someone from simply going through the bag and taking what’s there?”

  “It’s keyed to me. They’ve already tried and couldn’t get through. It’s safe until we get my bag back,” I told him.

  The green light faded until just a few fairy lights darted around his hands.

  “Looks like we are at an impasse,” he said. “You failed in the task I gave you, and worse you left my item behind to save your own skin. This is not the type of service I expect from a courier from Hermes Courier Service.”

  He had me there. Jerry was going to be furious over the cluster fuck of last night. I might have had ground to stand on if I’d managed to snag the bag on my way out.

  “What are we to do about this?” he said.

  I eyed him. Although he had a serious look on his face, I could tell he was just seconds away from cackling like some two bit storybook villain.

  Playing along, I asked in a dead pan voice, “Yes, what are we to do?”

  He clapped his hands. Was that glee on his face?

  “I’m so glad you asked.”

  Oh boy, I didn’t have a good feeling about this.

  “You see, even though you failed to deliver my package and then left it behind, I’m willing to overlook everything as long as you’re willing to perform one minor service for me. I’d even be willing to forgo the punishment clause and put a good word in with your boss.”

  I perked up at that. Maybe this situation could be turned to my advantage after all.

  I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. This service could be anything.

  “What would I have to do?” I asked.

  He smiled at me. “Nothing much. You just need to help me recover an item and find a murderer.”

  “A murderer? Oh no. You’re on your own with that.”

  Who did he think I was? The police? No way did I have the skills or physical power to apprehend a murderer. Most spooks in this world could tear through a baby vamp like tissue paper.

  “Is that so?” he asked.

  “It is.”

  He nodded and the green lights winked out. I let go of the breath I was holding. I didn’t think it would be that easy. I thought there would have been a bit of an argument from him. Pushing, slapping, and maybe zapping me with that green lightning from before.

  A slicing pain radiated from my chest, coursing down my limbs, paralyzing me with agony. The pain froze my arms and legs and I fell onto my back jerking slightly. I couldn’t move no matter how I begged my body to obey me. All I could do was gurgle. A high pitched whine escaped me.

  “I guess I’ll take my fifty years of service beginning now.”

  What was he doing to me? It was difficult to think with the pain ripping my senses apart.

  “I’ve never kept a vampire before. I’ll have to think of the best ways to put you to use. This will take some thought. You’re so young and you don’t have much power. It would be entirely too easy to break you. Yes, this is going to take some considerable thought.”

  He smiled down at me, delighting in all the plans he had going on in that little sorcerer’s brain of his.

  The pain abruptly shut off. I drew in a sharp breath. Even the absence of pain hurt in a weird, aching way.

  He crouched down next to me. “Of course, you can make this all go away by agreeing to help me out.”

  Yeah and I could just give up on living a long and healthy afterlife while I was at it.

  “No?” he asked.

  The fingers of his hand flicked. The pain turned back on, made more intense by the absence of before. I shook and whined as it coursed through every nerve ending. It was akin to the feeling of being hit by a thousand lightning bolts at once. Blood trickled out of my ears.

  It turned off. I sobbed for breath.

  “How about now?” he asked.

  “You’re crazy,” I gritted out.

  His eyes were deadly serious as he said, “What I am is desperate. You help me out and this can all go away. Otherwise-”

  The pain came back, the strength of which bent my back nearly in half as I arched and jerked. It dissipated almost at once.

  “Okay, okay,” I shouted when he lifted his hand again.

  I couldn’t take fifty years of this. I had to take the offer and hope the added time would give me a way out of my predicament.

  “I’ll do it. Just stop whatever you’re doing.”

  I must have imagined the sigh of relief he gave. That or whatever he’d done had busted my eardrums and was making me hear things. There couldn’t be much out there that scared the big, bad sorcerer.

  I dragged myself up to sitting, not wanting to have this conversation lying on my back. My dignity was already smarting from the smack down I’d got from the teenage looking sorcerer.

  “Great. I knew you’d agree. I just had to incentivize you.”

  Oh, he’d done that alright.

  He started to help me to stand but backed away when I smacked his hands and glared.

  I wiped the blood from under my nose. Whatever he’d done must have given me a nosebleed in addition to the ear bleed. “Tell me exactly what I have to do.”

  Suddenly he seemed every inch the teenager as he rushed to explain. “Okay, well, I’d hoped to have the werewolf help me in this, but since he’s dead, you’ll have to do.”

  “What was in the package?” I didn’t need to hear how I was his emergency choice.

  “It had information about all of the murders and disappearances that
have been happening since the summer. I was helping the werewolf figure out who’s been orchestrating all of this. We were close too. He was supposed to send something back with you. It was something he said was the cause of everything that’s happened.” He stopped in his recitation and looked at me hopefully. “I don’t suppose you saw a package lying around addressed to me?”

  I shook my head. All I’d seen was a pile of broken limbs, blood and a piercing set of blue eyes. There could have been a house sized package lying next to all that with the sorcerer’s name scrawled on it in big block letters, and I never would have noticed.

  He looked disappointed.

  “So this killer you want me to find. It wouldn’t be the person who has been running around town killing supes all summer would it? The same one that’s been on the human news, the one killing and hiding the bodies of all those people?”

  “That’s the one.”

  He was crazy. Totally crazy.

  “You’re crazy. No way am I going after that guy. He’d squash me like a bug. One of my life goals is to not be killed by dismemberment. You might as well get back to the torture part of things.”

  “You’re not going to die.” He thought a minute and shrugged. “Probably. Anyway, it’s too late now. You’ve already agreed.”

  “I take it back.”

  He frowned at me. “You can’t do that.”

  Ha.

  “Watch me.”

  He gave me a pitying look. “No. You really can’t do that. Check your arm.”

  I looked down at my sleeve covered arm but saw nothing.

  He rolled his eyes and grabbed one arm. I flinched back.

  His grip tightened, pulling me forward. “Stop that. I just need to show you the mark.”

  He rolled the sleeve up on my right arm, exposing the forearm. There, on the underside of the arm about an inch or two below the bend of the elbow, was a pale silver tattoo of a stylized lion wrapped in thorns. Looking closer, I realized the tattoo wasn’t silver, or at least not only silver. It had purple glints in it, almost like someone had embedded metallic purple thread in the dye.

  Where did this come from? I would have remembered if I’d gotten a tattoo like this.

  “What the hell is this?”

  He sighed. “It’s a sorcerer’s bond. The mark announces and formalizes any agreement you’ve entered into with a sorcerer. Once you’ve completed your task, it’ll disappear. How can you not know this? Honestly, I’m amazed you’ve survived this long.”