Silver and Shadows: A Halfmoon Investigations Urban Fantasy

by Tracy Sharp

  And they did. One after another. They were so determined to get me that they flew right into the cracking wall and sizzled themselves into ashes.

  I waited, my arms getting tired, but I didn’t care. I’d stay like that all damned day if I had to, until every last one of those flying mutants fried themselves.

  Finally, the last one hit my glowing force field and dropped. I waited, just in case there were any stragglers. There weren’t.

  I lowered my arms, a wave of exhaustion sweeping over me, and I dropped to my knees.

  Get up, asshole. I couldn’t afford to rest, because Candy was in trouble. I had to find her and get her out of this hell hole. I tried to push myself back onto my feet, but instead collapsed on my face, and then everything went fuzzy, and then gray, and then not at all.

  Candace

  Candace climbed. The strange walls of the pit were bumpy and textured enough for her to easily place her feet and to grab onto jutting areas to pull herself up. She worked steadily, climbing higher until she was close to the opening.

  “Ten more feet to go.” Her breath came out in little huffs. It was about time she got a damned break.

  Something hit her in the shoulder, sinking teeth through the fabric of her jacket and puncturing her flesh.

  Candace screamed, shock and pain almost making her lose her balance. She turned her head and saw them coming. Bats. A little larger than regular ones, with mouths full of sharp little teeth. Hundreds of little demon bats.

  Regular bats had sharp little teeth, but they didn’t normally swoop down and munch on people. Apparently in hell they did.

  Another bat dive bombed her and sank its teeth into her shoulder blade. Pain radiated from it, spreading over her entire arm.

  “Owww!” She hurled several colorful words at the bat that bit her.

  “Enough of this shit.” She felt around on her belt, unsnapped one of the compartments where the little bottles Iona had given her were still nestled. She used her thumb to pop the cover off one and waited for them.

  It didn’t take long. Several bats came at her, and she jerked the little bottle up and waved her hand in as wide an arc as she could, aiming for them.

  The angel dust seemed to know exactly where to go, moving upward toward them, and covering each of their vile little bodies as they flapped toward her.

  There were a series of poof sounds as they began exploding. The angel dust glittered in the dimness of the pit, covering each bat, and blowing them apart into sparkling little bits.

  It was a beautiful thing.

  Candace kissed the bottle and replaced it, snapping the compartment snugly closed. She’d have to get more angel dust. It really did get rid of demonic pests.

  She took a breath and climbed the rest of the way out of the pit, not risking a rest in case some other demon came along to surprise her.

  Demons really were assholes.

  She heard someone calling her, and felt compelled to turn back toward the black, tangled woods. Strummer. She lifted her face and called out to him. “Not yet. I haven’t found the devil yet.”

  “Candace, you don’t find the devil,” Strummer’s voice came to her as an echoed whisper. “He finds you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, then he hasn’t found me yet.”

  “He has found you. If he hasn’t appeared to you, he’s messing with you. Trying to trick you into having to stay. Come back, he will not bargain with you.”

  Candace took a dejected look around her. A wave of helpless defeat swept over her. She was physically and mentally exhausted. She’d been licked and chewed on by demonic faces in the dock. She’d been bitten by demonic fish (she hoped they were fish) and bats. She’d barely escaped being eaten by giant snakes. Strummer was right. “To hell with this.”

  She turned back to the woods.

  Ezra

  At first, when I heard the shifting of grass and the cracking of twigs, I froze, and I was expecting to have to fight another ludicrously large bug. But it was Candy’s sticky, goo covered figure walking toward me. Some kind of orange slime dripped and oozed down her limbs and torso, and she looked haggard, but her eyes were wild.

  My breath caught in my throat. She’d never looked so beautiful.

  I walked toward her, the relief sweeping over me making me feel weak. “Candy, thank God.”

  “Ezra, what the hell? I told you not to come after me.” She caught sight of my hand and winced. “See? You broke your hand. And what the hell is all over you? Ezra, you are covered in nastiness.”

  I laughed. Despite the way she looked, she was the same Candy. I didn’t mention the foul smelling matter all over her. She smelled like rotten eggs, blood, and some kind of animal shit. I didn’t care. “I know you did. But I thought you were trapped down here. I had a disagreement with a couple of giant spiders.”

  “Giant spiders?” She looked around, her eyes wide.

  “They’re dead. Let’s hope there aren’t more. The broken hand happened topside. A demon broke it.”

  She placed her slimy hands on her hips. “So, you came down into hell for more?”

  “The devil sent a demon to distract us.” I swallowed, hardly aware of the reflex. The idea of losing her sent an ache deep in my chest. “I thought it was too late.”

  She approached and stood in front of me, dripping goo. “How do you know it isn’t?”

  I shrugged. I couldn’t tell her that I’d rather be stuck in hell with her than escape and be without her. It was a bizarre realization, but there it was. “I don’t, I guess.”

  She cracked a little grin. “It isn’t. Just messing with you. Strummer called to me earlier. I said I’d come find your sorry ass when he told me you were down here. Let’s get out of here before something comes and eats us.”

  I was down with that plan. “Sounds good. What do we do, just start yelling for Strummer?”

  “Doesn’t seem very smart, does it?” She looked around again, her face wary.

  “Nope. If you’d seen the scary shit I’ve already fought to get to this point, you’d freak out. Mutant spiders aside.”

  “I think I have an idea, Ez.” She ran a hand over her tangled, slimy hair.

  Okay, she smelled funky. I had to know. “What is that stuff all over you?”

  “Beats me. I was dropped into a bat pit, by an enormous bat with a human face.”

  I made a face, disgusted. “Blech.”

  “No kidding. Anyway, there was a river of blood at the bottom of it, and slime everywhere. I think it just dripped all over me. Demonic bat shit, too, probably.” She brushed her hands over her arms, almost casually, as if it was just lint.

  A shiver went through me. “Bats?”

  She nodded. “Vampire bats. Little buggers bit me, too. If I get an infection, I’m coming back for the rest of them.”

  “Oh, please don’t say that.” I thought I heard something moving in the trees. “Let’s start yelling.”

  “Ezra.” Candace looked toward the sounds, now louder. Something was coming closer.

  I really didn’t have the energy to fight some other gargantuan horror. “I know. Something’s coming. Start yelling.”

  But we both stared into the trees, terrified to know what was coming toward us, but not able to look away.

  And then little flashes of crimson red flickered through the spaces between the trees.

  Still, Candy and I were frozen, watching in horrified fascination as the thing scuttled toward us. As it came closer, the immense sectioned tail curled up and then forward, revealing the massive stinger at the end. The tail curled and uncurled, getting ready to strike.

  I wanted to scream, but my breath caught in my throat, as more of the immense creature came into view. Two mammoth claws opened and closed, preparing to clamp around us and crush us between them, as six huge spidery legs skittered forward. The abdomen was enormous, black and grooved, and two opaque, ebony eyes fastened on us hungrily.

  The giant scorpion’s tail reached the tree
tops, and swooshed the leaves and branches, shaking smaller insects from them. They fell to the ground, scrambling away.

  I turned to Candace, whose jaw had dropped. She was as paralyzed as I was. She looked at me and she took a breath, and we both screamed for Strummer.

  The thing picked up speed, coming straight toward us.

  We both screamed again.

  The thing kept coming.

  I raised my good hand, calling up every ounce of my magical reserve. I felt a mild electrical current spark, and my fingers fizzled.

  I stared at my hand. “Oh man. This isn’t good..”

  “Wait! It’s happening,” Candace cried.

  “Yes, we’re about to be eaten by a giant scorpion.” Of all the creepy things I’d seen in hell, this was the worst. I felt my bowels cramp, and prayed I wouldn’t crap my knickers before the thing ate me.

  “No. Strummer! Look!” She pointed upward.

  At the same time I felt a pull in my chest, and saw hell’s bubbling sky crack open.

  The monstrous scorpion snapped its tail toward us, and Candace and I ran in separate directions. The stinger hit the ground with a loud crash, shaking the earth beneath our feet.

  The reverse tornado lowered slowly. The scorpion was almost beneath it. If that thing got sucked up into it and let out of hell, it would be bad.

  I raised my hands and began to focus my magic on the thing, but the Scorpion turned and snapped its tail at me, and I leapt out of the way, the stinger coming down and missing me by a hair.

  Candace screamed at the thing. “Hey, over here, you over sized crustacean!”

  She held something in her hand as she cautiously walked toward it.

  “Candy, no!” If that thing’s stinger hit her, it would impale her.

  “Come on, you ugly thing.” Her eyes were trained on the scorpion. She beckoned the thing with one hand, holding something in her other. It looked like a small bottle.

  The scorpion twitched its tail, and I jumped up, shouting. “NO!”

  The thing jumped toward me, and I heard Candace curse. “Ezra, I know what I’m doing.”

  “I really don’t think you do.” I dodged the tail again, barely missing the stinger, and wondered how many more times I’d be that lucky. I was pushing it was it was.

  Candace ran toward it, ducking beneath one giant pincher, and stood beneath the scorpion’s nightmarish face. It turned to look down at her and Candace threw her hand up, releasing glittering pearly dust in the monster’s face.

  It froze, jerked backwards, and then shook; its entire body convulsing.

  And then it seemed to vaporize into thin air.

  “Wow. That’s handy,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “What is that stuff?”

  She placed the little bottle back into its holder in her belt and cracked a grin. “A little help from an angel.”

  “Good thing. It hasn’t really been a banner day for either of us.”

  The tornado lowered, hovering. We both ran toward it and jumped, reaching up into it, and got sucked up into the whirlwind.

  I never thought I’d be so happy to see a tornado.

  23

  Candace

  The light hurt her eyes. It had been a couple of days since her little jaunt in hell, and Candace felt okay, considering the craziness she’d been through. But she couldn’t sleep at night. Fatigue had seeped deep into her bones, and she felt like she had when she’d had the flu as a kid.

  “You’re dead tired,” Ezra had said. Go get a nap. I’ll stand watch. Well, I’ll sit. But I’ll watch.”

  She managed a weak smile and then said, “Okay. I’ll try, but I know I’m not going to be able to sleep. I feel like garbage.”

  So, with Ezra guarding her from her couch, she’d slept the entire day away, and then she’d been up all night. And now she was exhausted again. It was like she had her days and nights mixed up.

  Maybe hell just had a way of messing with you.

  Her eyes hurt. Her limbs felt heavy. It was almost like she was drugged.

  And she was so hungry. There was a faint cramping in her stomach. But she was too tired to get up and eat.

  Ezra opened her bedroom door and peeked in at her. “You okay?”

  “Could you please bring me my sunglasses? I think they’re on the side table near the couch.”

  “Yeah, they are. I’ll be right back,” Candace heard his voice say. She’d closed her eyes against the brightness of the room.

  She heard him return and felt the bed sink a little as he sat down, and then he placed the sunglasses on her face.

  “Better?”

  She opened her eyes, but they felt so heavy. “Yeah. Some. Close the blinds, would you?”

  “Candy, you have no blinds. The window was smashed in when that shapeshifter crashed through it with you. Remember? The window is now covered over with plywood. There isn’t much light in here.”

  She groaned. “I need to sleep.”

  He was quiet for so long she wondered if she hadn’t felt him leave. But then, finally, he said, “Okay.”

  And then sleep pulled her back under.

  Ezra

  I watched as she fell back asleep, worry niggling the back of my mind. I knew she was tired. Anyone having been through the ordeal we’d been through would be. But I’d been through it, too, and although I did feel tired, I wasn’t as exhausted as Candy was.

  It’s true that people react differently to shock, horror, and having to fight for their very lives. But Candy was a cop. She’d been through some shit. And although hell and its monsters were hardly comparable, Candace was a badass. She bounced back. She dug in and worked harder. She didn’t collapse in exhaustion and sleep the days away.

  The operative word there was days.

  She was up all night, pacing like a nervous cat, and she slept like the dead all day.

  The operative word being dead.

  And she won’t eat. She yacked up the sandwich you made her last night.

  Maybe it was the flu, like she’d suggested. But in my heart of hearts, I knew it wasn’t any earthly virus.

  I wandered into her bedroom again and gently pushed her t-shirt away from her shoulder. I pulled the gauze back from her wounds. The bites on her back and shoulder blade were almost completely healed. I moved the sheet away from her feet.

  The bites on her feet and legs were healed. She’d had a few on her belly and arms from her swim in the vampire bat cave. The ones on her arms were gone. I knew without looking that the others had vanished, too.

  How could that be? She’d just been bitten by the vampire bats only a couple of days ago. The bites had looked worse than nasty, with chunks of her flesh missing where the bats had ripped it away. I had no doubt that those bite wounds would’ve left scars. Pretty deep ones. And I’d worried that the bites would become infected.

  Super fast healing.

  Supernaturally fast, my brain whispered.

  But Candace wouldn’t let me take her to the emergency room. So, I’d cleaned the wounds with the wound cleanser in her cabinet and used liberal amounts of antibiotic ointment on them before covering them with gauze. She’d checked under the gauze last night and found no wounds. It was like she’d never been bitten at all.

  In the back of my mind, the place I tried to keep the things that I feared most, a voice kept whispering to me about what I dreaded might be happening to her. I kept shoving those whispers back, trying to shut them down, determined to make her better. My wishful thinking was that if I just took good enough care of her, she’d be okay, and what I knew to be true wasn’t really true at all.

  Anyone who has ever been in denial about anything knows that arena. The game is lost but the losing team just doesn’t want to admit it.

  And now, looking at those impossibly fast healing wounds, Candy’s aversion to sunlight, her refusal to eat, and her new nocturnal behavior, I still didn’t want to admit it.

  Just say it. Say it out loud. Then you can figure out how to
move on.

  I couldn’t do it. Not yet.

  But I had the feeling it wouldn’t be long before I had no choice in the matter.

  Candace

  She awoke screaming, with her stomach cramping so badly that she’d almost passed out again. As the cramping subsided, Ezra burst into the room and ran over to her.

  “What is it?” He leaned over her, then crouched next to the bed, his hand brushing the hair from her face.

  And he smelled good. So amazingly good. She could hear his pulse beating in his wrist, and the scent of the blood moving in his veins, so close to the skin, driving her crazy. “Ezra. Back off.”

  But her face moved closer to his wrist, and her forehead brushed his palm.

  She could feel his emotions. He thought she was nuzzling his hand and he placed it on her forehead. “You’re cold.”

  “Ezra, leave. Now.” She could hear the whimper in her voice and she hated it, but she needed him to get out of her room. Out of her house. Get as far away from her as he could.

  She licked his wrist.

  Ezra snapped his hand away. Something in his eyes seemed to click. He moved back.

  “Go. Get out of my house.” Her voice was a croak, and even as she ordered him to leave, she pushed herself up, swinging her legs over the bed, and stood, feeling like a hungry predator stalking her prey.

  Wasn’t that what she was?

  He backed out of the room, and she slowly followed him.

  “Run.” She continued to follow him, feeling her body poise to leap onto him.

  “Candace,” his face contorted, and sorrow poured from him.

  She felt his heart break. Tears spilled from her eyes. But she kept stalking him. A deep snarl rumbled up from her chest, and fangs pricked her bottom lip, preparing to feed. “GO!” Her voice was a desperate, hungry wail.

  Ezra turned and ran, flipping the lock and whipping the door open before launching himself over the railing and racing toward his car.