The Shadow Stealer

by Melissa Giorgio

  A tiny sliver of light materialized, blinding me. Through the slit, a hand appeared, and I worried it belonged to Collins, come to finish me off.

  Then again, if it was Collins, and I could trap him in here, away from my friends and, you know, all of Earth, then maybe I should.

  I reached for the hand and tugged.

  And Rafe spilled through the slit, tumbling to the ground.

  In my surprise, I let go of the shadows, and the slit closed up immediately, trapping us again and stealing the light. Well, no, I was still lit up, and when I dove into Rafe’s arms, he began glowing too. Weird, but also kind of cool.

  “Rafe!” I covered his face in kisses, and he responded in earnest, capturing my lips in hungry kiss after hungry kiss. His arms went around me, one buried in my hair while the other hooked around my waist and pulled me into his lap so I was straddling him.

  I know, I know. We were trapped in the enemy’s lair, and instead of looking for a way out, we were too busy throwing ourselves at one another. But two minutes ago, I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again, and I was sure he’d been thinking the same thing about me, so who could blame us for indulging in a little sexy times?

  When we (regrettably) pulled apart, Rafe trailed his knuckles down the side of my face, ever so gently, and whispered, “Hey.”

  “Hey yourself.” Holding him felt so familiar, so warm, and I never wanted to let go. “You found me.”

  “Actually, I think you found me.” Rafe pressed his forehead against mine. “I thought I’d lost you forever.” His eyes were very bright, and I could see he was struggling to remain in control of his emotions.

  “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” I tried to keep my voice light, but it was so hard. “But, Rafe, where are we? How do we get out? Did I—” My eyes widened in horror. “Did I trap you, too?”

  His hold on me tightened. “Gabi, no. Do you know how frantic I was, when I turned around, and you were gone? And your mom wasn’t able to do anything, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again… But then there was this rip in the air; it was so weird, to see this small black tear just floating there in the air. Somehow, I knew you were there on the other side, so I took a chance and plunged my hand in.” He kissed me, quickly and lightly on the lips. “Don’t you know I’d rather spend eternity here—wherever here is—with you than live a life out there without you?”

  Overcome with emotion, it took me a moment to answer. “But what if we really can’t get out?”

  “Are you kidding?” Rafe raised his eyebrows. “You and me? We’re an unbeatable team. Hornboy, Fishface, Boneless… They were no match for us, so why should this one be any different?” Rafe paused. “What are we calling this one, anyway?”

  I frowned. “For some reason, I’ve been having a hard time coming up with a name for it. Maybe because it’s so damn terrifying.”

  “If that’s the case, then you need to name it something that will make you laugh, like Fried Chicken.”

  “Fried Chicken?” My voice echoed in the enclosed space. “Rafe, the thing has no skin and looks nothing like a chicken. What the hell, are you trying to make me hate fried chicken for the rest of my life?”

  “Then how about Skinless?” he asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

  “Hmm.” I thought about it. “That might work. It could be Boneless’s extra-evil cousin. They look nothing alike, so maybe they’re related through marriage. Do demons even get married?”

  We smiled at one another. “See?” Rafe said. “Already our situation is slightly less scary. We can do this, Gabi. Together.”

  “Okay.” I nodded, believing him. An unbeatable team. Hadn’t I called us the exact same thing not too long ago? It had been true then, when I said Rafe and I would work together to conquer his pain and heartache, and it was true now. We would find a way to beat Skinless and Collins. Unless Rafe had already handled Collins. “What happened after the demon took me, by the way? Please tell me you killed Collins.”

  “I did.” He said it without emotion, but I could see the fire in his eyes, a blaze of triumph for having defeated the monster that had killed his parents. “Actually, it wasn’t just me. I had help.” He filled me in on what had happened, ending with, “We’ll never have to worry about him again.”

  “Good,” I said fiercely. And Nina had come to the rescue! Who had expected that? Certainly not me. That didn’t mean we were going to be friends (my face still hurt from when she’d smashed it with her fist yesterday), but I think I could hate her slightly less than I originally did. “Are you okay?”

  “Right now I am.” Rafe shrugged. “I’m probably in shock, but I feel good knowing he’s gone. It’s a lot to wrap my head around, though. Not just the demon army bit, but the way he made it sound like a lot of Silver Moon members have no problem with breaking the edict.” His grip on my waist tightened as he slid me closer to him. “It’s not like I didn’t know it happened. I heard stories all the time. But Davenport was the first hunter I ever saw who’d turned, and it was a nightmare. And then, by blowing up HQ, Collins nearly started a war between the hunters and innocent sorcerers.”

  I rested my head against his chest. “It’s sad. There’re people like you, who are so good and use your powers to protect others, and there’re people like Collins, who abuse what they can do.”

  “Destroying Silver Moon’s name in the process.” Rafe shook his head. “No, I’m wrong. Silver Moon was always corrupt, starting with the elders. You can’t tempt a person with all that power and not expect them to want it.” When he fell silent, I leaned back to look at him. His eyes were sad, but Rafe managed to give me a small smile. “The things he said about my dad, though? About how he wanted to use Collins’s admission of guilt to help him win the election? That I can believe, completely. Dad was just too stubborn… and arrogant, like Collins said. Even though Collins was clearly strong, Dad thought he was stronger, and that cost him his life. And Mom’s…”

  “If your dad fought Collins, do you think he would have won?” Everyone said Liam was a great fighter, but Collins had an unfair advantage.

  He sighed, his breath tickling my neck. “I don’t know, Gabi.”

  “But at least you know it wasn’t your fault,” I said. “Which is what I’ve been telling you all this time.” I poked him in the shoulder. “I told you so!” When Rafe didn’t say anything, my heart flipped nervously. Crap. “Sorry, was that too soon?”

  “That depends.” He lifted his head and met my stare. “If I admit I should have listened to you, will that be the end of this?”

  “The end of me telling you I’m right?” I asked. “Hell no! I’m going to say it at least once day! Because the world needs to know that I. Was. Right.” I put my hands on my hips (which, admittedly, was a little difficult to do while currently snuggling Rafe) and shot him my most haughty look.

  “In that case, then yes, it’s too soon. Wait a couple of years, okay?” Rafe’s eyes were dancing, and he leaned in to kiss me again. “Thank you,” he said against my lips after we’d pulled apart, “for always believing in me. The real reason I’m handling this so well? It’s because I’ve got you by my side.”

  “And I’m not going anywhere,” I murmured. Rafe was nice enough not to point out that neither one of us could go anywhere at the moment. I think, like me, he was content with just sitting there, talking and kissing. But we couldn’t stay like this forever. Before he could kiss me again, I asked, “What about everyone else? What did you mean about Mom not being able to do anything? Was she trying to help Phil?” I was worried about my brother, but I’d held off on asking Rafe about Philip because I was afraid of what he’d tell me. My powers had helped him somewhat, but it hadn’t been like when I healed Rafe or Evan. Philip needed to go to the hospital. Maybe he’s on his way there now, I thought. Charles would have called for an ambulance.

  “She said the injury she received when she removed the parasite spell was preventing her from going after you.” Rafe looked w
orried. “I don’t think she’ll be able to help Phil. Or us,” he added.

  I shut my eyes briefly and willed my heart to continue beating at a normal pace. Charles will help Phil and Kain, and Rafe and I will get out of here. It’s fine. We’re fine.

  “Gabi?” He touched me on the shoulder.

  Opening my eyes, I smiled. “Sorry. Just imagining you chopping the demon’s head off. Speaking of that, where’s your sword?”

  Looking strained, Rafe said, “Yeah, about that… I might have lost it when Collins knocked me away. And then everything went to shit when he tried to bring his demon army here, so I never had a chance to retrieve it.”

  I didn’t get why that was such a big deal. “So just summon it again.”

  “Um.” He pulled at his jacket’s collar.

  I gave him a look. “Rafe Fitzgerald, please tell me you can bring your sword here!”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” he explained sheepishly as he squirmed under my gaze. “Once you summon it, it’s here until you revoke the contract. Since I didn’t have a chance to do that before I came here…”

  I groaned, imagining his sword lying on the ground, beyond the reach of my shadow palace.

  “Sorry.” He ducked his head in embarrassment.

  “Lucky for you, despite everything that was going on, I still managed to hold on to this.” I reached into my coat’s pocket and pulled out my knife. “Clearly I’m a better hunter than you.”

  Rafe rolled his eyes.

  “Think you can chop off its head with that?” I asked, passing it to Rafe.

  His answering grin was pure hunter: feral and fierce. “It shouldn’t be a problem for me.”

  “Is that what you think?” a new voice asked us.

  We jumped to our feet as a swirl of shadows gathered in front of us, forming the body of good old Skinless. Like us, it was lit up so we could see it clearly, its pale body a sharp contrast to the darkness that surrounded it. I tested its new name a few times in my head and realized Rafe was right. With such a stupid name, the skeleton demon wasn’t as frightening as before.

  Sure, it was currently holding us captive in its little funhouse, and it had come to collect my body so it could run around Earth doing unspeakable things, but each time I thought of the name “Skinless,” I had to hold back a snort of hysterical laughter.

  Squeezing my hand once before letting go, Rafe positioned himself in front of me, the knife gripped in his left hand. I know he’d told me we’d be fine, but he had just finished battling Collins; would he be okay to fight again so soon? There was a bruise already forming on his chin, and his clothes were dirty and ripped. At least he’s not bleeding, I told myself. I’d seen Rafe bleeding to death enough times to last me two lifetimes, thank you very much.

  “You would be good to stand aside, hunter,” Skinless said.

  “That’s not happening.”

  “I made a deal with that child’s mother. She is mine. She has been promised to me.”

  I decided to speak up. “See, that’s not fair. I was only nine, and I had no say in the matter. Because if I did, I’d have told you to go kill yourself. Which you’re welcome to do. It would save my boyfriend a lot of trouble, not to mention our clothes. You guys are disgusting when you’re beheaded! All of that green blood—”

  “Enough!” Skinless slashed one of its talons in the air, and both Rafe and I tensed in anticipation. But the demon didn’t charge; I think, like all the other evil people we kept meeting, it liked to hear itself talk. “It does not matter what you want. Your mother gave you to me, and I will have you. You can threaten me with your little knife, hunter, but I am older, stronger, and wiser than anything you have ever faced before. You will die, and I will force your girlfriend to watch every excruciating bit.”

  “Oh my god,” I said to Rafe. “Skinless is so over-dramatic. It’s worse than Davenport and Collins!”

  “I know, right?”

  Skinless’s face tightened with anger. Without another word, it launched itself at Rafe, who met it without flinching. Rafe’s knife slashed in the air, and he just missed hitting Skinless’s ribcage. Would it even hurt? It wasn’t like there was any skin to pierce, just bone. Something told me those bones were a lot tougher than human bones. As strong as Rafe was, I didn’t think even a well-aimed kick would easily shatter any of them.

  Again, I wished Rafe had brought his sword. At least that would be better than the puny knife I’d supplied him with!

  I hated just standing around, doing nothing. There had to be something I could do to help. Like that time with the Boneless twins in the abandoned apartment building. While Rafe had been fighting the two of them at once, I’d discovered they shared a single shadow, which I’d plunged my knife into, giving Rafe ample time to kill the twins.

  Wait a minute! Shadows! I could have smacked myself in the forehead for forgetting such a simple thing: I had brought Rafe here by breaking through Skinless’s shadows. I just needed to do it again, only this time I needed to make a slit large enough for the two of us to go through.

  It was hard, though, trying to concentrate on parting the shadows while my boyfriend fought Skinless only a few feet away. Rafe was starting to breathe hard, and his movements were slowing. When Skinless lashed out with a talon, making a neat slice on Rafe’s cheek, I nearly abandoned my efforts so I could run to his side.

  That won’t help anyone! Just find a way out and go, go, go!

  The shadows were even harder to hold than last time. They slipped away each time I went to grab them, and my frustration grew by the second. Relax. Calm down. You’re too anxious; this isn’t going to work. Going against my base instincts, I settled on the ground, closed my eyes, and tuned out the battle raging in front of me.

  Skinless had made this tomb. Shadows seemed to be its thing. In both my dreams and reality, it was always emerging from them, or draping me with them… So what did that mean? Was the demon made of shadows? Was that how I’d been able to control them? Because it had claimed me? Instead of two separate beings, we’d someone joined together—and I couldn’t even finish that sentence on account of how creepy it sounded.

  But I was on to something! My heart began racing as I furrowed my brow, stretching out my senses. Not only did the shadows surround us, but they should connect me to Skinless. If I could find that tether, that line that tied us together, I should be able to use it to my advantage.

  I concentrated on my fingers. Whenever I’d healed, the power had flowed from my fingertips. If there was a tether, it would be there. Something brushed against the fingers on my right hand, feather light, and I jumped, startled. That’s it! I grabbed it with both hands, and pulled.

  Skinless let out a bellow of rage. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was gripping a long, oval-shaped shadow in my hands. It stretched from me to the ground beneath Skinless, and the demon appeared to be having a difficult time moving. I caught its shadow! Wait, I caught its shadow? What the hell? Hadn’t I been trying to look for a way out of here?

  Oh, well. Deciding to go with it, I yanked backward with all of my strength, and Skinless fell over. I let out a loud bark of laughter. After shooting me an incredulous look, complete with raised “That was you?” eyebrows, Rafe went in for the kill, his knife positioned over Skinless’s throat.

  The demon’s arm shot up, grabbing Rafe’s hand and twisting. My boyfriend let out a choked noise of surprise, dropping the knife. After swatting it away, the demon’s other hand encircled Rafe’s throat and began squeezing.

  “No!” I jumped to my feet, pulling the shadows, but nothing happened. “Stop! Let him go!”

  “I told you what I want, little girl,” Skinless hissed. Rafe was beating against the hand that gripped his throat, but his attempts were useless. “Come willingly, and I will let the hunter go.”

  He must think I’m the stupidest girl alive. But Rafe’s face was turning purple; what choice did I have? Tossing the shadows aside, I said, “Fine. You win. Take me and let him go!
”

  Crowing, Skinless pushed Rafe away and smiled at me, showing off its crooked, yellow teeth. “Finally, you are showing some sense.” Coming over, the demon opened its arms as if to embrace me. I contemplated kicking it in its crotch, but considering there was nothing there, I figured that would do little to no damage.

  So I settled on jabbing my fingers into its eyes. I missed with the left eye, but my finger pierced the right one (for the curious, it felt like stabbing my fingernail into a large, mushy grape, so yeah, really gross), and it screamed, first in surprise, and then in outrage. While it was busy carrying on, I grabbed the shadows again and yanked.

  This time, I knew what I was looking for, or rather, which shadows not to grab, so when I pulled, there was a loud, satisfying rip, and the shadowy tomb began to break. The park (and really, really blinding bright light) appeared in fragments, growing sharper the harder I tugged. With one final pull, the shadows broke free, and the light claimed the darkness.

  Skinless let out a shriek as it fell to the ground, covering its face with its hands.

  “Take that, you asshole!” I snarled. “You and your stupid shadows can go to hell because I am the goddamn sun and I will steal your ass—”

  “Gabi.” Rafe cut me off with a wary look. “What do you think about maybe saving your speech until after Skinless is dead?”

  I pouted. “Okay, fine. You’re no fun, you know that?”

  Shaking his head, Rafe picked up the knife and readied himself for round two.

  Chapter Fifty-four

  As soon as the shadow tomb broke, Mom was there, throwing her arms around me and hugging me hard enough that I had trouble breathing. “Gabi!”

  I took a moment to hug her back before telling her, “Mom, I’m fine.” Glancing over her shoulder, I could see Philip and Kain still on the ground, with Charles standing over them as he talked on his phone. To the right of them was Alexandra with Evan’s head resting in her lap. I couldn’t tell if he was awake or not from where I stood, but I hoped for the former. Beyond Alexandra was Nina, who looked like she wanted to join them but was afraid Alexandra was going to kick her again. Charles spared me a glance and gave me a nod, letting me know he had things under control. I nodded in return and turned my attention back to Skinless. “But we need to kill the demon before it tries to capture me again.”