Shades of Darkness

by Nora Ash

  “We are not going to sort anything. You are going to stay far, far away from this mess, and I will sort it out. Lightning too, if he gets his head out of his ass. But not you.”

  I stared up at him, gobsmacked. “Excuse me? I’m the one who just got kidnapped! I think I’m entitled to a bigger role than virginal sacrifice here!”

  Lightning snorted behind me. “Yeah, not happening, Kittykat. No more sneaking around the mayor’s office and sticking your nose into things that can get you into trouble. And for the record, there’s nothing ‘virginal’ about you.”

  Perfect. The one thing they could agree on would of course have to be treating me like an incompetent doll.

  “It’s not like I want to dive headfirst into the next supervillain’s net, I promise,” I sighed, stepping back a little now that they didn’t seem like they were about to rip into each other at any moment. “But, quite honestly, I don’t think you two have any clue where to begin looking, or you would have done something by now. I do.”

  Lightning’s eyes narrowed to slits. “This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with what you specifically said you didn’t find in Wilkins’ office, would it?”

  “You were snooping around in Wilkins’office? After I ordered you not to investigate anymore? Twice!”

  I ignored The Shade’s incensed interruption and went over to my computer. My phone was still safely hidden away behind it. I fished it out and scrolled through my images, heart pounding in my throat.

  “I found blueprints of a large weapon that looks an awful lot like Bright’s gun—the one he used in a bank robbery last December. And I found a linked payment to it as well.” I held out my phone to them both, eyes fixed on The Shade. “It came from Shaw Industries.”

  Five

  The Shade’s expression didn’t change as he stared at my phone’s screen, but his posture tensed up just enough for my throat to tighten.

  “That’s impossible,” he murmured. “Elias Shaw isn’t involved with the mayor—or Bright.”

  “No, he’s not,” Lightning said.

  I finally took my eyes off The Shade to look at him, eyebrows raised in confusion. “It says right here, though. Do you think the mayor’s just using Shaw Industries as a cover name for someone else?”

  “Nah, it’s Shaw Industries, all right. But Elias doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s got someone on the inside funneling money to a few illicit activities and hiding the trail. I’ve been keeping tabs on his board for a few weeks, but no one’s coming up as suspicious.”

  The Shade looked about as surprised as I felt. “You’ve been trying to flush out a mole in Shaw’s business? Aren’t the unwashed masses at the bottom of society more your game?”

  Lightning scoffed. “I don’t give a shit what income level the people I help are on. Not that I expect a lousy pickpocket to understand that.”

  “Says the glorified action figure. But let’s get back on point, shall we? Someone’s funneling funds from an unsuspecting CEO into the mayor’s account—which was then used to build that nasty gun Bright likes to flash around? Have I got that right?” The Shade looked from me to Lightning.

  I nodded, frowning at my phone. If Lightning was correct—and I had no reason to believe he would lie about something like that—then Elias Shaw wasn’t on the mayor’s side. My mark throbbed in a very “I told you so” manner that made my nipples harden. I rubbed distractedly at it until it settled down to a pleasant tingle, and cast a shy glance at The Shade.

  When Elias had asked for my phone number, he’d given me his in return, mentioning something about a coffee date. While mulling over my complicated tangle of emotions when it came to the two supes, I’d disregarded it as some convoluted ploy from his side that I just couldn’t work out. But if he really wasn’t on the mayor’s payroll, then… then maybe it had really just been… a date.

  Maybe, despite his threatening persona and promises of “keeping me by his side,” like I was some trinket, his interest in me was genuine?

  Warmth fluttered in my belly, and for a few, euphoric moments, I allowed myself to imagine what it would be like to be truly loved by someone so powerful and intense. Then I looked at Lightning, and the happiness died down, only to be replaced by heartache. Why, why, did I want him so bad, when he’d made it clear his only interest in me stemmed from the mark? Was it really just the magic they’d talked about? And was that the reason that I couldn’t be fully happy with the thought of just one of them truly caring for me?

  It was preposterous, of course, no matter the reason. I’d never expected any man who could provoke the response in my heart and body as either of them did to take an interest in me—and I’d made my peace with that. And now… now, my greedy heart would not be satisfied with anything but both of them.

  I might as well start looking into getting a load of cats.

  “You need to show me everything you’ve found.” The Shade’s voice ripped me out of my depressed musings, and I flinched as cool anger flickered through Lightning’s glowing eyes at the demand.

  “I need to show you exactly nothing, Shade,” he sneered. “If you want to find out what’s going on in some billionaire’s dealings, I’m sure you can torture a person or two to figure it out on your own.”

  “Maybe I will,” The Shade growled. “How many would it take for you to get the stick out of your ass?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. Getting them to work together to defeat Bright was going to be enough of a challenge. Turning my half-baked dreams of being with both of them into any sort of reality just wasn’t going to happen, and the sooner I made my peace with that, the better.

  “Look, you’re both investigating the mayor and Bright, and you need to work together to stop whatever he’s doing. I don’t know why you two hate each other so much, but if you were able to put it aside to get me, you can put it aside to fight a common enemy, right?”

  The Shade pursed his lips, an unhappy draw to them. “She is not incorrect. We can’t let him live, after how he took her. If we kill him, it should give others pause before they try the same stunt. But neither of us can do that on our own, or he would be long dead.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Lightning growled. He got up from the armchair in one, graceful movement and rolled his shoulders, as if the mere subject of working together had made them tense. “I have zero guarantee that you won’t align with Bright midway through, and I’m not risking her life on that.”

  Anger blazed through The Shade’s eyes. He ripped out of the chair and stopped right in front of Lightning a second later, teeth bared and muscles tensed. “Don’t you dare insinuate that I would betray her. You were the one who left her alone and crying, not me.”

  Something oddly reminiscent of guilt flashed in Lightning’s eyes, but was quickly replaced by hatred. “Do not turn this on me, Shade. You have pulled that stunt before, remember? People died because of your changing allegiance.”

  “Our past has nothing to do with this. Are you really willing to risk Kathryn over an old grudge? Because if that’s the case, I am not the one who is a danger here, and I won’t hesitate to eliminate you if you pose a threat to her.”

  “Uh, guys.” I got up from the sofa and carefully wedged myself in between the two superhumans, who were squaring up against each other, teeth bared and bodies tensed. The energy in the room was practically electric, making nervous jolts travel along my scalp and down my spine. To say that things had gotten tense would be an understatement. “Let’s calm down, okay? We’re not going to get anything sorted if you two are at each other’s throats.”

  A low growl rumbled out of The Shade’s chest, but at least they didn’t launch at each other. I took that as my cue to continue.

  “Look, we need to figure out why the mayor is bankrolling Bright’s gun, and if there’s more between them than that. I only found the blueprints for that gun, and the connection to Shaw Industries in the documents I took pictures of. Is there someone within the sup
e community that you trust, who might know something?”

  “You don’t ask those kinds of questions in our society,” Lightning grunted, though his eyes were fixed on the far wall as if he was going through possible contacts as he spoke. “Of course, you don’t steal someone’s bonded human, either, so maybe it’s about time we set aside any pretense of following the rules.”

  “With the evidence Kathryn found that Bright’s relying on the mayor for funding, we should have enough to prove that he’s unfit for leadership, at least,” The Shade mumbled. He, too, had gotten a far-away look in his eyes, as if he was mulling over the possibilities. “That’s direct involvement of a human in supe affairs.”

  “We need more than a paper trail,” Lightning sighed. “We need something flashier, and you know he’s involved in something dirtier than that. Why would he risk exposure by involving the mayor?”

  “Can’t you just kidnap him?”

  Both supes turned their heads toward me with a snap, and I faltered under their incredulous stares. “I mean… the mayor? To question him?”

  The Shade’s face split in a surprised grin. “The kitten shows her claws.”

  Lightning grimaced. “As endearing as I find your descent into a criminal mindset, we can’t just kidnap a man as important as the mayor. If we do, and don’t kill him, he will undoubtedly be rather negatively set when it comes to supes in general, and that won’t end well for anyone. If we do kill him… Well, I’m sure The Shade would be all about that, but I’d rather not execute a man just for fiddling with the bookkeeping, if that turns out to be all he’s done.”

  I blanched and nodded. I hadn’t really thought that one through to its natural conclusion. “All right, no kidnapping. Then what do we do?”

  “Mirome.”

  I looked up at The Shade with both eyebrows raised, but it was Lightning who broke the silence that followed that one word.

  “I suppose… if anyone would know, it would be him.”

  “He knows everything about everyone,” The Shade confirmed. “He would be the natural place to go for answers.”

  “Who’s Mirome?” I asked, looking from one man to the other. They both seemed oddly hesitant. “And if he’s the local gossip, then what are we waiting for?”

  “He’s an old friend,” Lightning said, his voice quieter than normal. “There is… history there.”

  I didn’t manage to get my suspiciously raised eyebrows back under control, and they shot up high on my forehead. “You both have history with this man? The kind that makes you hesitant to ask him questions? Whatever this story is, I want to know.”

  Neither man answered me, but the tension in the room grew noticeably. O-okay. Major sore subject-alert?

  Before I could open my mouth to barrage them with questions, a knock on my front door pounded through the loft.

  I tensed, cold fear taking an instant hold of my mind as images of running through dark alleys and being dragged out into the night by Bright flashed before my mind’s eye in a swirl of terror. It wasn’t until then that I realized how much my experiences with the dark side of St. Anthony had marked me.

  I didn’t even notice I’d reached out to clutch at The Shade’s—who stood nearest—arm until he pulled me into a loose embrace and mumbled, “ You’re safe, kitten. Bad guys don’t knock.”

  “You would know,” Lightning muttered. “I take it you’re not expecting visitors?”

  I shook my head, trying to calm down my racing heart. “No. It’s probably just one of the neighbors.” Despite my attempt at rational logic, my nails were still dug safely into The Shade’s black suit.

  It knocked again, more insistently this time, and Lightning sighed. “Right, then. I hope your neighbors are fans.”

  He walked smoothly to the door, turned the lock and pulled it open.

  “Oh, my God!” The breathy gasp from the person blocked from my view by Lightning’s bulky mass carried equal measures of sheer shock and excitement. “You’re Lightning!”

  “Keen observation. And you are?” Lightning’s tone had regained its usual measure of sarcasm.

  “Oh, sorry! I’m Trish—Kathryn’s friend. I need to speak with her, urgently. Is she here?”

  Six

  It was almost as if I’d managed to forget, somewhere in the middle of being kidnapped and rescued, that there were other people in this world than superhumans and villainous politicians. The arrival of my friend at my doorstep jerked me out of the scary, dark fear that had haunted me for the past however many days, and into the light. A surge of hope and exhilaration jolted through me, and I wrestled myself out of The Shade’s light grasp and practically ran for the door.

  “Trish!”

  Her face was still a mask of surprise and borderline awe, but it broke into smile when I practically pushed Lightning aside and pulled her into a fierce hug.

  “Oh, thank God you’re here!”

  “That’s what I was going to say,” she said as she freed herself and glanced at Lightning, who was watching us, arms crossed over his chest and mouth set in a firm line. “I tried calling you all day yesterday, and there was no answer. Usually, you at least text me back! I was worried. What’s going on?”

  “Uh…” I looked up at Lightning above my friend’s curly, black hair. The warning in his glowing eyes was unmistakable—tell her nothing.

  But this was Trish, and I needed to talk to her—needed someone who understood how scared I was, without wanting to treat me like an incompetent child.

  “You better come in.” I stepped aside, ignoring Lightning’s quiet hiss at my disobedience. “It’s a long story.”

  She stepped across the threshold, still seemingly unable to take her eyes off Lightning, which was probably why she didn’t notice the other supe until the door was safely locked behind her and I directed her attention at him.

  “Trish, there’s someone else I want you to meet,” I said, eying The Shade carefully to gauge his reaction to my friend’s sudden arrival. Judging from the way his upper lip curved in a silent snarl, he was probably about as excited as Lightning.

  My friend finally managed to rip her gaze from Lightning’s narrowed eyes, but when she spotted The Shade’s black-clad figure, the smile faded and was replaced with near-comical terror. She made a funny little squeaky noise and stopped so abruptly that I nearly walked straight into her.

  “Kat…!”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. “He’s been helping me. He won’t hurt you.”

  “That entirely depends on whether or not I find you a threat,” The Shade growled, looking every bit as terrifying as his reputation painted him out to be.

  “Oh, stop it!” I snapped. “Trish is my best friend, and I trust her a hell of a lot more than I do you two. You will do absolutely nothing to her, or so help me, I will make you pay. And that goes for both of you.” I didn’t exactly have any plan as to how I’d go about making either superhuman pay, but it was largely ignored anyway.

  “She needs to leave. Now.”

  I glared at The Shade. “No, she doesn’t. You can trust her, and she might be able to help. She’s a reporter with DNSA, and I already told her about your first visit, Lightning. She hasn’t told anyone, and she won’t tell anyone anything else. Right, Trish?”

  “Uh-huh.” She didn’t take her eyes off The Shade, who was staring at her in return, lip still curled in warning.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” I grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her toward the only room with a door in my loft—the bathroom. “You two—don’t kill each other. We’ll be back in a bit.”

  Once the lock clicked behind me and I’d turned on the tap to hopefully block out our voices from any superhuman hearing, Trish visibly relaxed, though her face was still a study in disbelief.

  “Wow, Kat.”

  “I know.”

  “The Shade? What the hell’s going on?”

  I scrubbed my face with both hands, trying to find the wo
rds to explain what had happened. “It’s all so messed up, Trish. I’m so in over my head. But they’ve both been helping me—helping me survive. This thing… it’s so much deeper than what we ever thought.”

  Trish looked at me with that same, familiar expression of calm overview, like she had every time I freaked out about college assignments back when we used to share a room. If she hadn’t become one of the city’s top journalists, she would have been great as an emergency dispatcher. She put her hands on either side of my arms and pressed gently, calming me with her familiar presence. “Just start from the beginning. Tell me everything.”

  Had it been anyone but Trish, I wouldn’t have. At the very least, I would have left out the details about how I’d been claimed by both the city’s favorite hero and its most feared villain and somehow landed in a bizarre love triangle, only without the love-bit. But this was Trish—my best friend, the only one who’d stuck around for more than the occasional social media chat after everyone separated after college. So I told her everything that had happened since the last time we spoke.

  “Hold up… you slept with both of them?”

  I flushed, somewhat embarrassed by her scandalized tone. “It just sort of happened, okay. Can we maybe move on to the important part? The one where superhumans are controlling the mayor, and he’s funding Bright’s weapons?”

  “Yeah, okay… you just sort of happened to fall on their penises. And the way you’re blushing, like a teenager with her first crush, doesn’t mean you’re in love with either the man whose bad manners you wrote an entire article about, or the one who’s known for terrorizing the city on a regular basis. But fine, if you want to play coy, it’s your prerogative. You said a source gave you the idea to look for the files you found at the mayor’s office? Who is it?”

  I frowned. Surely, there were more important things to worry about than who pointed me in the right direction. “I can’t name him—I promised he would be completely anonymous.” Ignoring how The Shade had threatened his name out of me, of course. “It doesn’t matter, though. What matters is that he was right.”