The Shadow Deception: The Shadow Enforcer Series Book Two

by N M Thorn

  “Now, we’re going to check if the magical device in question is still here.” Yakov moved closer to the lake and took one knee at the edge of the water.

  Whispering a spell, he stretched his arms forward, and a heartbeat later, the entire surface of the lake lit up with a shimmering blue light. A weightless, sparkling mist rose above the water and lingered in the air for a few seconds before dissipating.

  Yakov expelled a ragged breath and got up, relief lighting up his features. “Yes,” he whispered without taking his eyes off the lake. “The portal is still available to me. It’s a good sign.”

  He reached into his pocket and produced an old piece of paper. It was wrinkled, and time had stained it with yellow and brown spots. As he unfolded the paper, Damian peered at it with disbelief—it was absolutely blank. But as the wizard moved his hand over the page, a bright rune lit up on its surface.

  “What is it?” asked Damian. “I’ve never seen a rune like this.”

  “Unfortunately, what you don’t know about magic can fill the Grand Canyon,” mumbled Yakov, watching the rune slowly melt in the background. He glanced up at Damian. “If you wish, I could teach you and that pupil of yours… Jamie. You both have quite a natural gift for magic. I know Jamie is marked by the Guardians, but between us, he’s not Guardians material. He should be studying with the Wardens. Knowledge and science are his true calling, not combat magic.”

  “Agreed,” murmured Damian. “I wish I had time for learning.” He sighed, moving his gaze away from the wizard, staring into the dark forest on the other side of the lake. “I had more than enough training in combat magic, but barely learned the other types of magic when I was sent in the field. After that, it was mission after mission, and then…” His voice broke, and he smirked. “Anyway, I would love to learn more, but time never works in my favor."

  “It’s understandable. Besides, you’re immortal. Immortality presents certain opportunities mortals don’t have.” He shrugged with a kind smile. “Allow me to explain.” Yakov pointed at the paper. “This rune is a marker. The twin-brother of this rune—a so-called base rune—is inscribed on the box with the Hollow Band. If I throw the marker into the water, it will react to the base rune. Assuming the box is still at the bottom of the lake, that is. Fingers crossed…”

  He stepped into the water and threw the paper into the lake. For a moment, the paper lingered on the surface of the water and then sank, disappearing into the darkness. A heartbeat later, a large glowing rune materialized, hanging slightly above the surface.

  “Yes!” Yakov slapped Damian on his back. “We’re not late. The box is still here.”

  “Perun almighty,” exhaled Damian, wiping sweat off his forehead. “At least something went right today…”

  “Thank God,” murmured Cole, stepping next to him. “I guess now it’s my turn?” He turned to Yakov. “How am I going to know where to look for this box? And how does it look?”

  “Hold on, Cole. If mavkas still inhabit this lake, you may not need to go for a swim.” Yakov bent down and touched the lake, sending a small amount of his magic into the water. Shimmering circles spread over the surface, running away from his hand.

  “Mavka Kostroma,” he called, gently threading his fingers through the water, “I summon thee, my old friend...”

  They waited a few extremely long minutes, but no one answered the summons. Yakov straightened and stepped back on the shore, shaking water off his boots.

  “I guess this is where our luck ran out,” he muttered and turned toward Cole, a troubled expression on his face. “Cole, the portal is open.” He waved at the lake. “This lake has what locals call a double-bottom. But they are wrong. The lake doesn’t have a double-bottom. It has no bottom at all, just a barrier of sorts. Below the lake, there is a different…” His voice trailed off, and he scratched the back of his head. “Once you reach the barrier, you will see the portal. It’s a large, rotating vortex. You can’t miss it. Go through it, and you’ll end up in a different underwater realm, guarded by rusalkas.”

  “Rusalkas?” asked Damian, chills running down his back. “They’re not friendly creatures. Especially not to a man.”

  “Then it’s a good thing your brother is not a man,” Yakov murmured. “He’s a vampire, and he has no heartbeat. I don’t think rusalkas’ charms would work on him. At least their influence on him is not going to be as potent as it would be on you or me.”

  Damian swallowed hard, realizing that as much as he hated to put Cole in any kind of danger, Yakov was right. His vampiric nature would protect his brother from rusalkas’ magic. At least he hoped it would. Rusalkas, Slavic spirits inhabiting lakes, swamps, and rivers, were powerful and dangerous. They weren’t friendly to humans, and when it came to men, they were extremely hostile. No man could fight their charm and live to tell the tale. Contrary to popular belief, most types of rusalka had legs and looked absolutely normal, so their victims had no idea who they were dealing with until it was too late.

  “What other types of rusalkas possess this lake?” asked Damian, watching Cole take his clothes and shoes off, leaving just his pants on.

  “Just mavkas,” replied Yakov. “They are probably the least dangerous type.”

  “Uh-huh,” murmured Damian, thinking that at least with mavkas Cole could negotiate, and knowing his brother, he could talk his way out of any sticky situation. “Are you sure there are no lobastas here? Fighting with them will present a problem. Even iron and silver can’t kill them.”

  “Good. You do have some knowledge outside combat magic after all.” Yakov chuckled, but there was no humor in his laughter. He pulled a gold chain with a small round pendant from under his shirt, taking it off. “No, I’ve never seen lobastas in this lake. They are too aggressive and territorial to share their domains with other types of water spirits.”

  Yakov approached Cole and halted, waiting until the vampire put his back-scabbard with his sword on and readjusted the leather straps to make sure they wrapped tightly around his body. Then the wizard put the chain around Cole’s neck and pulled at the straps one more time, checking them.

  “Cole, when you get there, ask for a mavka named Kostroma,” he said, throwing a quick glance at the lake, concern shadowing his features. “Give her this chain, and she’ll give you the box in exchange.”

  Cole inclined his head. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

  The wizard ran his fingers over his unshaven chin and sighed. “Just in case… be careful, Cole. Avoid direct eye contact and their touch. Like your brother said, the rusalkas, even mavkas, have power over men. Even though your heart is not beating, I’m sure your other body parts are still functioning.” His eyes slipped to Cole’s groin pointedly, and he smirked. “I hope you’re not sexually deprived, or vampire or not, you stand no chance against their charms.”

  A wide grin split Cole’s face. “I’ll be fine.” He approached the edge of the lake and turned toward Damian, giving him a quick nod. Then he took a few steps forward and dove in, quickly disappearing under the layer of dark water.

  “Be careful, brother mine,” whispered Damian, lowering himself to the cold ground.

  “You know your brother is an ancient vamp.” Yakov sat down next to him, a low groan escaping his lips. “Between the three of us, he is the best choice for this mission. Besides, he’s not an easy-to-kill prey. He is a predator himself.”

  “You’re wrong. I killed more vampires than I can count. It’s easy to kill them if you know what you’re doing,” replied Damian, staring at the lake, unease twisting his gut into a tight knot. “Cole is my little brother, my family, my flesh and blood. I can’t help but worry about him.”

  “It truly is amazing, Damian.” Yakov picked up a small twig from the ground, twirling it between his fingers. “I don’t know if you’re religious, but you may want to ask the god you worship why they punished you by letting your brother, whom you love so deeply, be turned into the very thing you’re supposed to hate and k
ill—”

  Suddenly, he cut himself off, and the energy of his magic spiked around him. He slapped his left hand over the tattoo on his right arm, and his face turned into a stone mask.

  “What’s going, Yakov?” Damian rose to his feet, opening his second sight, but couldn’t detect anything alarming.

  “My gargoyle tells me we’re in danger,” whispered Yakov, getting up, “but I can’t sense anything and…”

  Yakov’s voice melted into a soft buzz in Damian’s mind, and he turned to him, ready to ask if the wizard could hear this strange noise when the forest and the lake started to spin around him. He swayed on his feet, struggling to keep his balance.

  “Yakov—,” he groaned. His stomach heaved, and he dropped to all fours, fighting nausea. With his blurry vision, he watched Yakov collapse to the ground, his long, dark hair fanning around his pale face, an expression of shock in his wide-open eyes.

  Damian reached for him, but his limbs were too heavy to move. The world tilted, and he started to fall, everything around him soft and disgustingly mushy. With his fading vision, he glanced at the lake but could see nothing except endless darkness.

  “Cole,” he whispered his brother’s name, and his eyelids closed.

  He felt a soft touch to his chest and forehead but had no strength to open his eyes. An icy wave spread through his body, freezing him to the core, and he jerked helplessly, holding on to the last rays of consciousness for as long as he could.

  “Daaa-mi-aaaa-n…”

  Chapter 27

  ~ Cole Adams ~

  As soon as Cole dove into the lake, darkness surrounded him, wrapping its icy arms around his body. He made a few strokes, submerging deeper, and then stopped, treading his hands through the water to keep in place. Something cold and slippery brushed his bare back, and he spun around but could see nothing except for the unsteady, blurry shadows gliding soundlessly in the depth of the lake.

  He swallowed hard as the glacial eyes of fear stared back at him from the infinite blackness, chilling him from the inside. Below him, the glowing blue light of the portal shimmered dimly, giving him the direction he needed, and he turned toward it, swimming as fast as he could. With every stroke he made, the pressure on his chest intensified, but he ignored it and kept moving ahead at a steady pace.

  The closer he moved to the portal, the brighter it became. The shadows jerked and shied away from the light, as if scorched by its brightness, and Cole doubled his efforts, his arms breaking the stillness of the water. Soon, he reached what seemed to be an enormous luminous vortex that spun slowly in a clockwise motion. Stretching his already heightened senses to the maximum, he detected the slight presence of magical energy, but since he couldn’t see it, he had to assume it was the magic of the portal.

  Here goes nothing…

  With a powerful kick of his legs, he dove into the portal headfirst. The dancing blue lights surrounded him in a never-ending merry-go-round. As the rotating vortex picked him up, the lights spun faster and faster, making him dizzy and lightheaded. He twisted, struggling to regain control of his body, but to no avail. Powerful jets of water propelled him forward, and he stopped fighting, realizing that the only way out of this situation was through it. He made an effort to relax and let go completely, surrendering himself to the power of the magical portal.

  Suddenly, all the lights vanished, and for a heartbeat he felt disoriented by the absolute darkness. The water pressure eased up and soon disappeared, and he felt weightless and powerless, at the mercy of whatever was coming. The stop was abrupt and painful. He hit his head on something hard and cried out in pain, but no sound came out from his constricted throat. Somehow, the darkness became heavier, physically pressing on his chest, and a moment later, he blacked out.

  An unfamiliar yet delicate scent invaded his nostrils, and through the fog in his mind, Cole heard a couple of musical voices speaking somewhere next to him. A soft touch to his arm confirmed that he wasn’t alone. Someone brushed the hair off his face, and it took all the power of will he had not to react, pretending to be unconscious.

  “He should have been up by now,” said a woman on his left, tones of concern in her voice.

  “He banged his head pretty hard though,” replied the second woman.

  “I checked his head,” objected the first one. “He healed almost instantly, which is strange. The room is filled with air, but his chest doesn’t move, so I believe he doesn’t breathe. He looks like a man, but he can’t be human.”

  “A wizard maybe, or a Child of the Elements? Or he could be one of the undead…” A cold hand pressed on his chest as if checking for a sign of breathing. “The Queen will figure out what he is and what he’s doing here. But we have to get him ready for the audience and to do that, he must be awake.”

  A slight slap on his cheek followed her words, and he decided that he had no choice but to pretend to wake up and meet with the Queen, hoping she was the one Yakov called mavka Kostroma. He cracked his eyelids open and moaned, reaching for the back of his head with his hand. To his satisfaction, he noticed that he wasn’t restrained, and his sword was still in his scabbard.

  Cole blinked a few times to adjust his vision to the semi-dark surroundings. He was in a small, windowless room, lying on a soft bed. A black silk sheet covered him from the waist down, and his back was propped up against a couple of large pillows. A few strange green orbs levitated under the low ceiling, illuminating the room with dim, shimmering light. They didn’t look like the light orbs Damian used to summon, but he had no doubt they had a magical origin.

  Two young women sat on the bed on either side of him. Both had long blonde hair that seemed to flow through the air even though there was no wind. Their tender faces were pale and looked almost translucent as their flawless complexion reflected the green light of the orbs. They stared at him without blinking, their overly large eyes filled with curiosity. Their long, sheer dresses flowed weightlessly around their willowy bodies, effectively underlying every curve of their figures.

  “Greetings, traveler,” said the woman on his right with a gentle smile that exposed a perfect set of small, white teeth. She leaned closer to him and cupped his face with her hands. “What is your name?”

  “Cole,” he replied, avoiding direct eye contact.

  She laughed softly, the sound of her voice as musical as the sound of a bubbling creek. “Your name is as unusual as you are.”

  She caressed his cheek, and the light wave of her magical energy touched his senses. For a heartbeat, the room spun around him, and his vision became blurry again. A moan broke from his lips, warmth traveling down his body. She smiled wider and upturned his face more, now her eyes right in front of his. Their gazes locked, and a fog obscured his mind, blocking everything out except for the desire to touch, caress and kiss the spellbinding creature next to him.

  Rusalkas… The thought flashed through his dimming mind, and he braced himself against their overpowering magic. With a low groan, he forced himself to close his eyes and break their eye contact, focusing on blocking their magical energy.

  “Open your eyes, Cole,” the rusalka whispered. She was so close now that her lips grazed his ear, but he didn’t detect either warmth or the touch of her breath to his skin. Before he could say anything, her icy lips pressed against his, and the amount of magical energy she sent through him seemed to double.

  He struggled against her hold, realizing with satisfaction that the more he fought, the weaker her influence on his mind and body became. However, he decided to play their game and cracked his eyelids open, gazing at the rusalka from under his eyelashes. His lips parted, and he arched his body slightly with a deep moan.

  “Well, hello there,” the rusalka purred and caressed his cheek with her long fingers, satisfied by his reaction. “Whatever you are, you are not immune to our magic after all, are you? I wonder…”

  She brushed her hand over his lips and then forced her index finger into his mouth, probing his teeth with her fing
ertip. He touched it with his tongue, closing his lips around it for a brief moment. She laughed and leaned down to his kiss his cheek, sending another wave of magical energy through him.

  Turning to her friend, the rusalka shrugged. “He looks just like a human man, but he has no heartbeat. So strange. I thought he might be a vamp, but he can’t be. When vampires are sexually aroused, their fangs expand. He has no fangs.”

  “My lady,” Cole whispered, reaching for her hand.

  She pressed her finger to his lips but then hopped off the bed, tittering. “I think he’s ready, Iriada,” she said to the second woman. “Just keep him under your charm while I fetch the Queen.”

  As soon as she was gone, Iriada turned to Cole. She lifted the gold pendant off his chest and peered at it, her blonde eyebrows lowering over her bright, green eyes.

  “Where did you get this pendant, Cole?” she asked softly, her voice almost pleading. He met her eyes, realizing with interest that she wasn’t trying to use her magic on him. “Please, tell me the truth. It used to belong to someone dear to me.”

  Making a split-second decision, Cole dropped his act. “I’m looking for mavka Kostroma,” he replied, taking the pendant out of her hand. “My friend gave this necklace to me. I believe it belongs to her.”

  “Oh, Cole.” She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, glancing over her shoulder at the door. “Don’t say anything about Kostroma to the Queen. She is—” She cut herself off, her eyes becoming even wider if that were even possible. Then she lowered closer to him and whispered into his ear. “Evil… pure evil. It’s been quite a few years since she took over the Black Lake. Kostroma and all those who refused to obey her are in her dungeons, outside the—”

  The squeak of the door interrupted her, and she jumped off the bed, lowering into a graceful curtsy. Cole half-closed his eyes and relaxed, staring at the entrance through his eyelashes.