Chasing Shadows (The Initiative Book 1)

by Kindra Sowder

  “Damn,” I cursed under my breath.

  “Someone cut th’ power,” McGrady whispered to my back.

  I nodded and turned my attention to the steps, taking them one at a time with caution with McGrady close behind, covering my back like we were taught to do. As a part of the Initiative we were sent through the most rigorous training available, the training at the FBI Academy. We heard Jared cry out as we reached the landing and then a struggle as what I could only assume was a lamp crashed and shattered on the floor, the sound coming from Addison’s room. My heart skipped another beat when I heard the sound, causing my feet to move even faster even though I knew slower was best just in case someone was just around the corner, but I had a clear shot to Addison’s room. Jared fell against the wall, blood pouring from a gash on his forehead and a look of pure terror on his face as Addison cried out again. My training told me to be quiet, but the animal and the sister within me told me to call out to them and run to them as quickly as I could.

  “Jared!” I shouted, my feet carrying me even faster as I ran.

  “Izzy! No, get out of here!” he screamed.

  I ignored his cry and sprinted to the room, stooping beside him as soon I reached him. McGrady was right behind me, not even taking his own safety into account in his primal need to protect me even though I was being stupid.

  “Izzy,” I heard Addi say and when I turned my blood froze within my veins.

  She was on the ground like she had been trying to pull herself weakly toward Jared, her hand reached out to me with blood caked between her fingers and in her hair. A shadow passed along the wall behind her, but there was no one else in the room. She blacked out, her head and arm falling to the floor because of blood loss. McGrady fired his gun at the shadow, only managed to make a small hole in the drywall and hitting nothing.

  “Where is it? Where did it go?” Jared sobbed.

  I looked around the room, seeing nothing but the darkness in the room around us.

  “There’s nothing there, Jared. No….” my words were cut off as something that felt like solid flesh slammed into me, sending me to the floor and my gun from my hand as I sprawled.

  There was a grunt from behind me, and I turned just enough in time to see McGrady get swept from his feet and fly out of the room, the door slamming shut as the shadow of a man passed over it. A shadow with no source. I could hear his screams through the door and another loud explosion of a gunshot. An animal growl sounded in the room. I rose to a sitting position, grabbing my gun from the floor and pointing it, not sure where to aim because there was nothing to aim at. Panic washed over me, causing sweat to pour down my entire body as I watched for anything that I could shoot. Jared was in front of me, leaning against the wall, breaths ragged and shallow. I reached behind me and felt for a pulse on Addison, making sure I didn’t drop my arm just in case. It was there, but faint and thready.

  “What is it, Jared?” I asked him.

  “I don’t know,” he answered through ragged pulls of air, his eyes wide with fear and darting around the room.

  “Fuck,” I hissed, looking around the room still while rising to my feet slowly, keeping an eye out for any type of movement along the walls. I couldn’t seem to take a full breath in, and my muscles were beginning to ache from the tension and the fear, the adrenaline coursing through my veins causing my heart to race behind my ribs at a furious pace as if it wanted to escape through my throat at any moment. There didn’t seem to be enough air in the room.

  “No, Izzy!” Jared yelled.

  I turned around and saw the shadow on the wall, but couldn’t react fast enough before I felt an invisible hand take my arm and squeeze until it was so painful it could break under the pressure, pulling me and throwing me into the farthest wall. I slammed into it, landing on my belly yet again and when I heard the growling sound once more; I turned onto my back and fired my gun three times. I had hit nothing and what I assumed was a laugh sounded. The room went silent for all of a moment, but I didn’t move. I just lay there with my pistol aimed, ready to fire again.

  A stinging pain began in my arm, bloody deep scratches appearing out of nowhere, causing me to drop the gun on the floor beside me with a metallic thud. Then the pain started in the flesh on my belly, growing in intensity until I was screaming as gashes opened up and tore my shirt into ribbons. I was in agony, the searing and stinging only growing beyond any pain I had ever experienced up until now. It stopped suddenly, and I let my head fall to the side, pain and blood loss pushing my body toward the brink of passing out and what I saw there shook my soul to its core. The shadow of a man hunched over me, sharp claws coming down to meet my flesh again. A silent tear fell from my eye and rolled into my hair beneath me, and then the agony was back and more profound than before. I couldn’t hold back my cries this time even though I had attempted to at first. I wasn’t sure what was happening to Jared because I couldn’t see him past Addison’s bed. All I could assume was that he was lying against the wall either unable to move or unconscious as I suffered. And McGrady? The love of my life? Where was he now?

  The door to the room flew open, splinters of wood from the broken lock showering over the room, causing the shadow to stop its torture and look toward the door. Light flooded the room and a high pitched, demonic scream emanated from the shapeless form as it dissipated in small ribbons trying to retreat from the blinding light. I squeezed my eyes shut, and the screaming stopped, followed by a deafening silence. My skin burned, and I felt my warm blood running down my sides and soaking into what was left of the belly of my shirt and the left sleeve. The quiet was replaced with wailing sirens getting closer and closer.

  McGrady was suddenly beside me, ripping off his shirt and placing it on my belly, putting a painful pressure on the wounds that I knew was necessary, but caused me to hiss anyways. My eyes began to flutter from the loss of blood, a cold settling over my bones as I went into shock.

  “Izzy, stai awake,” he breathed, taking in my closing eyes and my shivering body. “Izzy, coom on, loove. Please. Help’s comin’.”

  As he continued to hold pressure on my stomach, my mind was beginning to fade into the darkness beyond consciousness despite the light glaring in my eyes. The pain was helping to keep me awake, but soon I was dizzy, the room moving around me almost like a carousel and I was ready to get off of it. I winced as he pushed down harder, not meaning to hurt me, but needed to stop the bleeding from something that would more than likely take stitches if I didn’t bleed to death first.

  “I’m cold,” I said, barely being able to feel my lips move as I said the words. I could barely make out his look of anguish through my blurred vision, black spots coming and going from the edges. I tried to blink past them, but fatigue and weakness would attempt to pull me under each time.

  “Och, God. Izzy, stai awake.” He pushed my bangs back from my sweaty forehead, blood covering his large hands.

  I noticed that he had been hurt, a small cut on his forehead at the hairline and gouges all down one arm. He didn’t care about himself which was why he didn’t stop to take care of his wounds at all. He ran right back into danger to save all of us. Voices drifted in from downstairs, and I faintly heard McGrady yell our position down to them and, as I watched his expression change to relief, everything went dark, and I didn’t feel any more pain.

  It was warm in the dark like a cocoon, no noise to bring me back into consciousness and no excruciating pain. There was nothing. Not even the beating of my own heart. And, as I began to float back to the surface of the waking world, sounds began to come down to me. Sounds and light, but I didn’t want to leave. It was peaceful here. Then I heard his voice. His velvet, heavily accent laden voice, and it made me want to break the surface that was growing so much closer. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes slowly, the form of McGrady blurry at first, but growing more clear with each rapid blink. The lights in
the room hurt my eyes, causing them to sting so I had to squint to look at McGrady’s face.

  “Izzy,” he said as if checking to see if it was truly me. “How er ye feelin’? Ur ye in pain?”

  I could barely form the words to answer him, so I stared and took inventory of my entire body. Yes, I was definitely in pain. My entire abdomen felt like it was on fire as did my left arm, both bandaged pretty heavily from the feel of it. The light hurt my eyes, and my body felt heavy like a lead weight.

  “Light,” I protested. He was gone long enough to turn the light off and whisper to someone in the room, and when he came back, Jared was there with him. I felt relief flood my body, the muscles finally relaxing at the sight of my big brother, but where was Addi?

  “Addi?” I asked.

  Jared’s face turned solemn, and he took a deep breath. “We almost lost her, but she’s alright. Severely beat up, but she’ll make it. She’s right down the hall.”

  “I have to see her,” I croaked as I made an attempt to sit up and felt an agonizing pull in my stomach, forcing a cry from my vocal chords.

  “Don’t try tae sit up. Ye got stitches, loove. Give it time.” He paused and then said, “I’ll git a nurse.”

  I sighed and lay back down on the bed as McGrady rushed out of the room, giving Jared and me the space we needed to talk about what had happened or the fact that we were so scared to lose one another. I wasn’t going to lie. I was terrified that I would lose the only family I had left, but when the blood loss took its toll I had ceased coherent thought, barely even thinking of myself and the fact that I could die staring into McGrady’s beautifully amber eyes.

  Jared took my hand in his and held it so tight I felt as if he could break a couple of bones, but I didn’t say anything. My entire body felt like a semi had run over it, backed up, and did it all over again.

  “I was so scared, Izzy. I thought we were all going to die,” he confessed as his eyes welled up with tears. “They lost Addi in the ambulance on the way here, but were able to bring her back. McGrady rode in the ambulance with you and said that you were drifting in and out, but you made it here alive.”

  I squeezed his hand with the little bit of strength I had left and smiled at him, “We’re all alive. That’s what matters. It’ll only take you and me a couple of days to heal up, and then we can find out who’s up to this. I don’t usually take things personally until I’m attacked in my own home, you know?”

  He nodded, looking down at the floor with sadness and determination in his eyes. Turning his gaze back up to me he vowed, “We will find out who did this, sis. Promise.”

  “I know, big brother. I know,” I reassured him.

  I heard soft footsteps and then McGrady and a nurse in extremely loud hot pink scrubs moved into my line of sight. I squinted past the brightness of her clothes despite the fact that the room was darker, but it didn’t stop the fabric from screaming into my tired and sensitive eyes. Her bleach blonde hair didn’t help matters either and when she spoke, her voice reminded me of Jane’s except it was raspier than nasally. And she didn’t know how to whisper from the looks of it either.

  “Good morning, Miss Van Helsing. My name is Anna, and I’ll be your nurse for the day,” she said with a broad smile plastered on her face. “This gentleman here tells me you’re in some pain?”

  Morning? I had been out all night? I looked at her and just blinked, unsure of what to say. I was in pain, but the shock of missing so much time was too much for me to wrap my head around.

  “Izzy?” McGrady asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

  I shook my head to clear the cobwebs and answered, “Yes, I’m in a lot of pain. I can barely move.”

  “That’s normal considering the trauma, but we’ll get you fixed up right now with some morphine, and I’ll come back in a little while so we can change those bandages, okay?” she chirped as she removed a syringe from the pocket on her shirt, moving toward the IV drip that led into my right elbow. A clear liquid was housed inside of it.

  Jared pat my arm as the nurse injected the medication into the reservoir made specifically for that purpose on my IV line and smiled weakly.

  “I’m going to go check on Addi. Will you be okay?” he asked.

  “I’ve got McGrady here. I’ll be alright. Go check on her and if she’s awake tell her I will find a way down to that room of hers even if I have to beat up a nurse or two,” I joked. I turned my stare to McGrady behind him. “Even you, babe.”

  Jared stood and walked out of the room followed by the nurse as the morphine took effect, causing the room to spin just slightly as I lay there with McGrady watching my every move. I knew it wouldn’t last long. It never did, but this was better than nothing. He sat down next to me on the bed and took my hand in his, kissing me quickly on the lips before scanning me from head to toe. My eyelids drooped, but I forced them open, needing to speak to him about exactly what happened last night and what the next step was for us. He leaned forward and pushed some of my hair out of my face, grinning and tracing my jawline with one warm fingertip.

  “Ah was so scared ah was gonna lose ye. Aam happy yoo’re okay,” he whispered taking into account my over stimulated senses after waking up.

  “I’m too stubborn for all that,” I slurred, closing my eyes for only long enough to blink past his blurring image. “I won’t go down that easy. They better try harder next time.”

  He chortled and sighed, adjusting himself on the bed as the mattress moved underneath us. I despised the beds in the hospital for this reason, and I knew there was a reason behind it, but that didn’t curb my annoyance.

  “Damn bed.”

  “I know what you mean,” I responded as I attempted to shift in the bed, tearing pain ripping through my abdomen that made me cry out as the stitches pulled underneath the bandages. I placed my hand on my stomach, hoping the small amount of pressure would stop the pain. It didn’t.

  “Don’t try tae move, loove. Yoo’re pritty banged up.”

  I closed my eyes and nearly drifted off to sleep, but I wanted to know what happened to him while I was being torn to near shreds. He had a bandage on his arm that almost reached all the way to his elbow, spotted with blood in places.

  My eyes shot open, and I asked, “What happened to you? How did you know what to do?”

  He sighed, frowning at the memory and looked at our entwined fingers. “It was loch fightin’ a ghost. It didn’ matter how many times Ah fired mah gun. Ah didn’ burst anythin’, but it cood hurt me an’ it did. It was loch a shadaw, only movin’ along th’ walls. Ah was able to git away long enuff tae make it ootside tae th’ emergency kit we have in th’ car. We keep emergency flares in thur.”

  “How did you even know that would work?”

  He shrugged and said, “Ah didn’, but after seein’ how they moved ah had tae at least try. Th’ thought ay losin’ ye was too much. Ah had tae try.”

  “Well it worked, and you saved all of us. We would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you.”

  He raised my hand to his lips, kissing my palm and held my hand there and closing his eyes as the events of last night hit him hard. He took in a shaky breath.

  “Hey,” I whispered as he nearly fell apart in my hands. He turned his face to me and cradled my hand against his stubbly cheek. “We’re alright. We’re alive. That’s what matters.” He looked away from me again, placing his lips on my palm and closing his eyes like he had suffered a significant loss, taking another shaky breath as he tried to hold himself together.” You saved us, Jonas. You saved me.”

  He placed my hand on the bed gently, leaning forward to put his lips softly on mine. He pulled away and rested his head on my chest, listening to my heartbeat as his stubble poked me through the thin hospital gown. I felt his muscles move as he smiled and I closed my eyes, reveling in the feeling of warmth and love a
s I rested my hand and curled by fingers into his thick locks. Then I drifted into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 10

  The first thing I heard as I drifted back to wakefulness was the beeping of my heartbeat on the monitor beside my bed that being the only sound in the room. I opened my eyes, and the room was mostly dark except for one light shining over the farthest end of the small room, a chair in the corner with a figure sitting in it. Anxiety crippled me as I lay there. That was until my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and I saw James Richards sitting in the chair, watching me with his fingers steepled just over his lips, his eyes piercing into me as I lay there. The pain was beginning to come back, turning from a dull sting to a fierce ache in my abdomen. I winced, and he stood, coming to my side and leaning on the bed beside me. I didn’t want him anywhere near me, but, in my condition, there wasn’t much I could do. Not until a week from now anyways when I would be fully healed. Another perk of being a Van Helsing. My eyes searched the room behind him for McGrady, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  “I sent your lover down to the cafeteria. Figured you may want something when you woke up, so I promised to watch you until he got back,” he explained, a genuine look of fear on his face for my well-being.

  It was hard to believe that McGrady would agree to this, but he was desperate, so there was a small part of me that understood, albeit a minuscule one. I had seen the desperation in his eyes for me to be alright before the drugs took hold.

  “Is there a reason you’re this close to me? You can watch me from over there,” I hissed as he looked down at me, way too close for comfort. One of his fingers was even grazing my arm, so I jerked it away, sending a bolt of pain through my entire belly as the stitches pulled.