Shadow's Passion: The Shadow Warder Series: Prequel Novella
Page 15
Nearing the pair, Conner tried not to wince as the thing shoved its hips between the girls legs, grinding into her pelvis in simulated rape. She shook with terror, twisting against his hold. Years of experience hunting Vorati told him the best approach. This one was making it easy, enraptured with its meal. It hadn’t heard the faint scuff of Conner’s boot on pavement. The girl was so frightened, she wouldn’t notice a lightning strike right next to her. Conner circled to the back of the Voratus. Drawing his long-bladed knife, he centered himself just behind his target. The stupid thing still hadn’t realized it was no longer alone with its victim.
Moving with liquid speed, Conner drove the knife into the demon’s back as he wrapped his arm around its neck. The knife and lack of air startled the Voratus just enough for it to drop the girl. Conner twisted the blade, trying to keep its attention on its own pain for just a few moments.
“Run,” he shouted at the girl. She’d collapsed in the dirty, wet alley, her legs too weak to hold her up, her stare blank with shock. Conner hoped she wasn’t drunk or stoned. Dealing with the Voratus would be a whole lot easier if she took off.
“Get up and run,” he said, willing her to listen. “Now. Go.”
Awareness began to seep into her face. Eyes widened as the took in the sight of her attacker impaled on Conner’s knife. The Voratus struggled, heedless of the knife cutting through its bleeding flesh. Vorati-possessed bodies felt pain, they just didn’t care that much about it. Conner often wondered if they savored their own pain. It certainly didn’t slow them down for long. That was one of the reasons Conner rarely brought a gun when he was hunting. Unless he got a head shot, bullets didn’t do much to injure a Voratus. The demons healed as fast as a Warder. He could do more lasting damage with the knife. Back in the day, he’d favored an ax. Sadly, a battle ax drew too much attention on the streets of Charlotte.
The girl finally registered that her attacker was trying to pull out of Conner’s hold. New fear flooded her face, forcing life into her shaky limbs. She surged to her feet, taking flight down the alley in an awkward rush.
Conner released his hold on the demon’s neck and shoved it hard. The unexpected push propelled the body off his knife and into the side of the alley. Conner tried not to enjoy the crack of the thing’s wide forehead against brick. It turned to face him, assessing exactly how dangerous Conner would be. Conner fell into an open fighting stance, waiting for the thing to make a move.
“Goddamn Warders,” it said. “Always getting in the way of a good meal. I don’t suppose I can convince you to let me go?” It’s voice was oddly cultured coming from the brutish body. Conner laughed.
“You must be high if you think I’m going to let you go,” Conner said.
“This body isn’t as strong as it looks. It’s sick,” the Voratus whined. “I’m not a threat.”
“Right.” Conner shifted the knife to his left hand. With his right he reached into an inner pocket of his duster. His fingers closed around a calix. Palming the copper, dart-shaped device, he withdrew it and lowered his hand out of the demon’s line of sight. “I’m sure you’re going to take this opportunity to join a knitting club. No more raping and killing prostitutes?”
“I wasn’t going to kill her!” the Voratus protested.
“Just rape her,” Conner said, not trying to hide the sarcasm. He thumbed the protective tip off the sharp point of the calix.
“She’s a hooker. It’s not really rape,” the Voratus said, dismissing his victim. “It’s not like I’m staking out grade schools.” It watched the knife, waiting for Conner’s attack.
“I don’t care if she is a prostitute,” Conner said. “She’s human, which makes her mine.”
“You Warders.” The thing shook its head in derision. “I don’t know why you waste your time on the humans. You could rule the world and instead you run around protecting them. They aren’t worth it.”
Conner didn’t bother to respond. The Warders had been created thousands of years ago for the express purpose of protecting humanity from the Vorati. It was what they did. Conner couldn’t imagine walking away, abandoning the fragile human race to face a predator they had no idea existed. Few of his kind ever reconsidered their mission. With no opposition to the Vorati, the world they shared with the humans would degenerate into hell.
The demon thought it had distracted Conner with conversation. Inching over to the right, thinking that Conner’s lowered hand meant he wasn’t ready for an attack on that side. The flicking sound of a switchblade registered a second before Conner raised his hand to block the strike. Fire streaked across his forearm. A small wound. Nowhere near enough to slow him down.
Bending into the demon’s attack, hunched as if curled over the knife slice, Conner drove his shoulder into the Voratus’s gut. Trapped by its own momentum, the Voratus flipped over Conner’s back to land, stunned, in a dank puddle. Without a second’s hesitation, Conner drove the point of the calix deep into the center of the Voratus’s chest. The copper dart surged to life, sucking the Voratus from its host body with violent force, trapping the demon’s essence in the flat copper bulb at the end of the dart.
Conner watched the light fade from the demon’s eyes as a familiar rush of sound told him the calix was doing its job. When the alley was silent again except for the rain, Conner pulled the copper dart easily from the body. The next day Conner would deliver it to the Warder Citadel where they’d store the full calix with the others. Someday, when they discovered a way to destroy the Vorati completely, the immense warehouse would be purged of centuries of evil. But that was the future. Right now Conner was going to get out of this damned rain and meet Kiernan for a beer.
As he left the alley, Conner flipped a wooden disk with dark markings onto the body. Before he reached the street, the disk began to smoke. Seconds later, as Conner turned the corner, the body disappeared in a flash of light and smoke.
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Acknowledgements
Writing is by nature a solitary exercise, at least at the beginning. But it would have been impossible to publish a book without the support of some very important people. First, thanks to my husband and sister-in-law for being my first readers. Nothing gave me more confidence than hearing you both say, “Hey, this is just like a real book.”
Many, many thanks to my family. You guys are the best. Sorry (kind of) for the dirty laundry, undone dishes, last minute take-out and all the times I drift off staring into space. I hope I can help you make your dreams come true the way you’ve been here for mine.
And no author, especially not a new one, can get get by without the hard work of publishing professionals. Thanks to my content editor, Alicia Street and my copy editor, Julia Ganis. Your expertise made me, and this book, better. You both have a gift for clear, positive communication. I can’t wait to work together on the next one.
The team at The Killion Group is responsible for my covers, logos and website banner. Kim, you reached into my brain and pulled out the designs. You guys are amazing.
And, Julia, Alicia and the Killion team-- Thanks so much for your patience with all my newbie questions. This has been a fun and interesting journey. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your willingness to shed light on the process of publishing a book.
Shadow’s Passion
Copyright © 2014 by Molle McGregor
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at www.mollemcgregor.com
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Thank You
Excerpt
Acknowledgements
Copyright