Chasing Shadows (The Initiative Book 1)

by Kindra Sowder

  We were surrounded by trees that had lost all color, no vibrancy of life in them. Only death and the dying. Unavoidable in the end amongst all things. Shadows were moving within the dense fog, moans coming from above. Eshu spoke to me in a low, monotone voice as I choked down the bile that rose to the back of my throat.

  “You live in a violent world, Miss Van Helsing. An even more vicious world beyond the veil is what I will present to you so be prepared for anything and try to remain as calm as you can, or we will be found out. They will sense that we do not belong, and you will become their target.” He took a deep breath as I looked from left to right, taking everything in. “That sigil on your belly may even draw them. As I have said, it has turned you into a kind of beacon, but I did not want to tell you that it would be even more so for the dead before we came here. It would have diverted you from your path, and if you remain calm, we can avoid their detection.”

  A guttural, high-pitched scream ripped through the air, causing my heart to skip a beat, the moaning directly above us increasing in volume and frequency. My eyes drifted upward toward the sky, or what I assumed was the sky and what I saw caused a strangled soft cry to sprout from between my parted lips. Women, men, children, the elderly; all of them hung from the trees above, a noose of twisted vines around their necks as they swayed back and forth. My stomach turned, the bile I had been trying to hold back coming up in a hot river from my gullet and my mouth. I turned to avoid vomiting on Eshu’s beautiful shoes as the smell of the place and the sight above me finally won the tug of war between it and my will to remain composed. The rum I had ingested mixed with the acid in my stomach, causing my throat to burn as if I had swallowed a flaming sword. I had jerked Eshu around like a ragdoll, not meaning to, and he had nearly fallen to the ground, but was now standing with one warm hand on my back in a comforting gesture.

  I choked back another retch, and stood, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and turning to look at Eshu who was watching me concerned. I got dizzy and stumbled a step, but he caught me, taking my face into his hands again.

  “Calm yourself, hunter. You will see even worse here, and you can’t hide from any of it. If you wish to make the trek, but there is an easier way so let’s not draw undue attention to ourselves, huh?” he lectured as I stared at him, my eyes attempting to focus on his that were mere centimeters away. “Isabelle.”

  That jerked me to awareness, the use of my real name, which I hated. “It’s Izzy, Eshu. Izzy.”

  “That’s my girl,” he whispered as he pushed my hair away from my sweaty forehead. “Can you do this? Because, now that you’re here, there is no turning back.”

  I nodded, attempting to swallow down my fear which was a lot harder than it should have been. This place did frighten me, and I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, leading to my reaction that left my stomach empty.

  “We need to find Richards. How do we do that?” I asked. I wanted this done and over with as quickly as possible. The scent of this place was overwhelming as was the feeling of dread and death that was creeping over my flesh and up my spine.

  He smiled and mused, “Always down to business.”

  “You betcha. A Van Helsing no matter what,” I replied, returning the smile through my heavy breaths as they finally began to return to normal. Moans still echoed from above our heads, but I did my best to ignore them, my heart beat steadying as I pulled in the moist air around us.

  “Now, that’s the truth.” He dropped his hands and used his free hand to rub his face, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead, his anxiety causing my skin to prickle in response.

  “And you were telling me to stay calm?” I joked, pulling at his hand that was shackled to mine. I wasn’t happy with him, but he was my only guide in this Godforsaken place, and I needed him to stay focused if he expected me to be. “Alright, you. Let’s get this done.”

  He straightened and looked me in the eye, pulling all of his focus into those eyes that made you feel like he was staring deep into your soul. “I’m alright.” He turned toward me and placed his free hand on my shoulder, pulling in a deep breath. “Now, I need you to focus on your objective. If you want to find Richards in this place, then you need to focus on Richards, and that will lead us directly to him. Now, close your eyes and picture him in your mind.”

  I raised an eyebrow, but did as he said, closing my eyes tight and imagining the sniveling man that was Richards. I honestly hated him, and I was trying not to let that cloud my judgment, but I couldn’t hide how I felt about the man. A slight wind whipped around us, and I felt the world move around me, Eshu’s hand not once leaving me even though the cuffs had us leashed together. I swayed in place for a couple of seconds even after we stopped moving and, when I opened my eyes again, I was in a different location still covered in the silver fog that seemed to pour from every surface here. It looked like the same forest, but felt different somehow, like it had changed while remaining the same. I wasn’t sure how to describe it, but it felt like we had moved to a different location.

  My anxiety peaked as I heard Richards’ voice, an agitated tone to it that I had never heard before despite his continuing advances and the fact that I continued to deny him. He had never used that tone with me.

  “What do you mean you lost her? What the Hell do I pay you for?” he yelled into a cell phone, which meant he was either in his home office or the office he took up residence in at the Initiative. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, but I kept watching for the confirmation I knew would come. He was wearing a gray, pin-striped suit with a white shirt underneath his jacket, his shining leather shoes scuffing along the floor. His hair was a mess like he had run his hand through it in frustration. Someone said something on the other line and he grinned. “So, five more are down? At least one thing has gone as planned.”

  He stopped and stood in one place, listening intently to what the other person had to say and then frowned, his neatly groomed eyebrows furrowing as he took in what was said.

  “Find her or I will send you back where you belong. She couldn’t have just disappeared so find her,” he yelled into the receiver. “I wasn’t having you tail Izzy for no reason. She knows something, so you need to find her and don’t lose her again.” He hung up the phone and dropped it onto the desk that appeared out of the fog as he walked up to it, sitting on the very edge of it and staring right past me, the wheels turning inside of his head.

  So, he was having me followed, but that didn’t prove anything. At least, not what I needed to prove to crack the murders wide open. And they had managed to kill five more of us tonight. My knees almost buckled at the realization, but Eshu caught me easily. Richards’ eyes moved to look at the floor just in front of his feet, but then shifted back up almost as if he saw me, his eyes flashing the same black, shadow-like shifting movement that I had seen before, but this time it stuck around.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed as I watched him; his eyes looked like they had been replaced with obsidian. “I was right.” My heart rate ratcheted up, my rage pouring into the atmosphere at the fact that he had been able to fool us all, trying to take down the Van Helsing line and, in turn, the Initiative and its mission.

  “Izzy, reel it in,” Eshu said in a hushed tone directly in my ear, but I couldn’t stop the flow of my hatred now, and I was certain of who to aim it at now. I hadn’t been so certain before, but I was now, and he had to pay for what he had done.

  I didn’t like the man for even a second, but my heart was breaking, causing a change in the atmosphere and a heat to grow in my belly. Right where my new scars were. I looked down to see them slightly glowing underneath the fabric of my shirt, giving a whole new meaning to beacon. And when I looked up, Richards’s eyes were locked on my position, but he couldn’t know it was me. Or could he?

  “Shit,” I whispered as the ground began to rumble under our feet, causing me to stum
ble and fall closely followed by Eshu.

  “Izzy!” he cried, “You have to pull it back. Pull back now! Before you get us killed!”

  The fog that had seemed so serene before began to move around us at an accelerated speed like a living thing as cries and screams echoed through the air, so sharp that I had to clasp my hands over my ears. This would mean Eshu couldn’t protect his own, but he wasn’t exactly human so would it even matter? I saw Richards disappear out of the corner of my eye, my focus on him wavering in our dramatically changing surroundings. Eshu shoved me away from him, the cuffs causing my wrist to twist slightly, not actually causing pain as much as discomfort. Something large slammed into the ground between us and I knew that letting my emotions toward Richards run away from me was the biggest mistake I would ever make. What was between us was made of shadow and flame, crackling as I tried to rise to my feet, Eshu doing the same with our joined hands. I had no weapons here beside myself. They had all been taken at the door. The shadow rose to its full height, standing at least two feet taller than Eshu who was taller than myself.

  “Damn it,” Eshu yelled from across from me. We were practically hugging the creature between us as Eshu pulled something from his pocket that I couldn’t see. “Run, Izzy! Run!”

  I didn’t have to be asked twice. He had said not to run before, but the game had changed. I took off at a full sprint in the direction that wouldn’t cause our arms to lock around the shadow, the glow in my belly only growing stronger as the intense fear grew within it. What little light there was to see by was being drowned out as shadow after shadow rose from the ground. Eshu followed me, a kind of stick in his hand that I recognized. A flare just like the one McGrady had used to save us before and I knew he was aware that this would happen, and he didn’t even warn us of the possibility, but I chose to ignore the assumption until we were out and we were safe. He was trying to remove the cap so it would flare to life with one hand, but was having no luck as we moved through the ghostly forest and fog.

  A shadow rose from the ground directly in front of me, causing me to stop in my tracks and pulling Eshu backward until he was on the ground still trying to light the flare. It had no eyes, but I knew that it was looking directly at me. It looked like a man, but wasn’t one. I could tell because of the sinister and violent energy prickling at my flesh because of its proximity. I threw a punch, and it swiped right through the shadow, not appearing to harm it in any fashion. It reared its head back and roared laughter, as I looked on in shocked horror.

  “Eshu!” I cried as the shadow began to descend on me, hovering over me as I took a step back away from it. Others were closing in on us, causing everything to go completely dark and I screamed as the darkness covered us both.

  Then there was a bright flash of light as Eshu had gotten the flare to work, throwing glaring light in all directions. The shadows shrieked, covering what I perceived to be their faces and dissipating into the atmosphere as the light penetrated them. And then I was ripped from the ghostly plain, being pulled through the veil with brute force that caused me to gasp, the searing pain of my soul being pushed back within my body causing me to cry out and curl into a ball around the pain.

  A sharp intake of breath filtered into my lungs with a loud gasp and I was back inside of the club’s storeroom, stumbling back a couple of steps and then falling to my knees. My arm was still cuffed to Eshu’s, brushing his knee as he stood hunched over with both hands on his thighs and gasping for air. If I hadn’t known better I would’ve said he was human with the way he reacted as soon as we were back in the land of the living, but I did know better and what we had seen had genuinely gotten to him. McGrady and Stephenson were upon us within seconds, kneeling beside us with concern and dread on their faces. I took in multiple shallow breathes, unable to keep the air in my lungs where it belonged because of the crash landing.

  I looked into McGrady’s amber eyes and swallowed hard, “It is Richards.” I swallowed again as my stomach threatened to empty even more of its contents onto the floor in front of me. “Five more.”

  “Yeah, we got th’ call while ye troaps wur....” he paused, whirling his hand in the air like he had no idea what to call it, and then continued, “They want us on th’ scene ASAP. Ur ye okay?”

  I nodded and swallowed the saliva that pooled beneath my tongue as Eshu used the small key to remove the cuffs. The relief was immense, causing me to sigh as I rubbed the raw flesh underneath. He hadn’t put them on tight, but the running and falling had done a good number on it. I sat on the ground and took a deep breath, not even caring that there was a chair not even five feet behind me. Stephenson walked up to me and kneeled down, taking my hand in hers and inspected the raw skin. It was red and inflamed, small parts of it bleeding just enough for me to notice.

  “I suggest you put some Neosporin on this and some gauze for the next twenty-four hours followed with fresh air until it heals,” she said as she looked it over much like a doctor would look over an incision site.

  I saluted her and quipped, “Yes, Doc.”

  She grinned and patted me on the leg, sitting down beside me as I attempted to compose myself. “What was is like in there? It didn’t look like anything from out here until you guys came back.”

  “It was,” I sighed again, “terrifying.”

  Her eyebrows rose in interest, her eyes widening as she stared at me wondering why I would even call it terrifying at all. And it truly was. That wasn’t a lie. The gloom, the fog, the screams, the hanging bodies, and those shadows. And what was that glow within my scar? What was up with that?

  “Maybe once this is over I can explain it to you better,” I said, patting her leg in return.

  “Sounds good,” she said as she looked at her fingernails, picking at the dirt that wasn’t there.

  Eshu knelt down on front of us and frowned. “You need to rest after that encounter. Crossing the veil takes a lot out of you, so I suggest going to the scene, staying for five minutes, and going home to sleep. Wouldn’t want you passing out or anything.” He stood and started to walk away.

  “Eshu,” I called as I sprang to my feet and walked toward him. He had stopped walking and was looking at the ground, trying to avoid my gaze when I came around to face him. “What was that?”

  “What was what, Miss Van Helsing?”

  “The glow,” I whispered. “The glow from my scars. Is that because of what it is?”

  He removed the fedora and ran his hand over his smooth scalp, replacing it with a lament. “I had explained that it turns you into a beacon. Abraxas can now find you wherever you are, and it was triggered when your anger presented itself beyond the veil. That is something you are going to have to work on since it seems rage is what causes the sigil to work. I suggest finding a way to break the lines somehow so it doesn’t activate ever again. I recommend acid.”

  My eyes went wide, but his expression didn’t change.

  “You’re serious?” I questioned.

  He nodded and stammered an apology as his hostess made her way down to our location, stopping just beside me and waiting for her orders.

  “Please see them out,” he said with a passive wave and walked away from us and toward his office.

  Eshu may have seemed like a bad guy that had taken advantage of my need for information, and he was, but underneath there was something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  Chapter 15

  Within thirty minutes we had gathered our weapons back up, strapped them to us, and were at the crime scene, weaving in and out of cops and crime scene investigators. A part of me was thinking this was more of a case for the Initiative and not so much the New Orleans sheriff’s office, but what did I know?

  When we had arrived, an officer lifted the crime scene tape, all three of us ducking underneath to meet Richards, who was already at the scene hovering over one of the five bodies lying i
n the middle of an alley in the very center of the French Quarter. They were all covered in white sheets, Richards holding one up so he could inspect the wide-eyed, frightened face of one of the female victims. My body tensed, knowing that Richards was the one to blame for this. He played the concerned politician well when the need suited him, and it caused a shiver to ripple up my spine. As if he sensed me, his head turned in my direction, his eyes taking in my wary appearance and mistaking it for fear of being at a crime scene where five of my own had been slaughtered. He placed the sheet back down carefully over the woman’s face and stood, walking in our direction as McGrady moved to stand directly behind my back and Stephenson right at my side. The alley looked like most of the ones that graced the city of New Orleans, but this one was minus a dumpster, steam from a nearby grate doubling the humidity in the air.

  It didn’t take long before I saw the blood, and it was everywhere. At that moment, I was ecstatic that darkness stole color. I had already lost it once tonight. I didn’t want to go through another bout of vomiting for any reason. Richards moved toward us, still wearing the same gray, pin-striped suit he had been wearing when I had seen him beyond the veil talking about the slaying of these people and that my stalker better do a more efficient job at staying on my tail. When he came to stand in front of us.

  “It’s not every day ye see th’ Extermination Sectur at a supernatural crime scene,” McGrady scoffed, causing Richards to cross his arms over his chest, his brilliant eyes stern. All I could see were obsidian orbs when I looked at him, not once changing back to their natural hue once I had been opened up to what he was.