Midnight Shadows (Sky Brooks World: Ethan Book 3)

by Emerson Knight

  Sky blinked. “Did she perform a rever tempore?”

  The rever tempore was a powerful spell that altered time. I gave her a sideways look, but decided not to ask where she’d heard of the dangerous spell. She hadn’t learned that from Samuel. Sky was always full of surprises.

  I stared at my hands, unable to admit the truth.

  Sky waited patiently, blinking back tears as her eyes implored me to continue.

  Too late to stop now, I realized. “She chose Josh,” I admitted.

  “Josh?”

  “Never underestimate their cruelty when defied. Josh’s eighteenth birthday, he was supposed to die.”

  “But he’s still alive,” she said, bewildered.

  “Yes, but not without great effort on our part. You want to know where the Vitae is?” I sighed. “It’s on Josh. Well, part of it is on him.” I drew out my wallet and found the folded picture of a small, metal, helix-shaped object. “This is it.”

  I watched the confusion on her face as she took in the picture, and then I smiled. “There is a quarter-sized mark just above the top of one thigh that he believes is a birthmark. The metal is in the ink.”

  “What about the Moura?” Sky asked, one of probably dozens of questions. “What became of her?”

  “She’s fine,” I assured her.

  The corners of her eyes crinkled as she studied me. “It’s Claudia, isn’t it?”

  I nodded, gutted by another secret revealed.

  “And Josh has no idea?”

  “None.” And he never will.

  She didn’t understand. “Why wouldn’t you tell him?”

  “Do you think that is something he really needs to know?”

  “Yes,” she answered immediately. “I would want to know.”

  “When you found out about the specifics behind your birth, do you remember how you reacted?”

  “But this is different,” she pleaded.

  “How? He will have to deal with the fact that, when my mother had to sacrifice a life, she chose me over him. I don’t want him to know that. To live with that.”

  “She chose you to live because of the age difference. You all were given six extra years to remove the curse.”

  It was a practical decision, but that wasn’t the point. “I know, and I am sure he would understand, but I can’t imagine knowing something like that would not mess with him. I don’t see why he needs to know. And you can’t tell him.” I turned toward her, taking her hands into mine. “Promise me you won’t tell him.”

  She frowned, her expression empathetic but resolute. “I can’t do that.”

  Regretting my decision, I let go of her hands and rose to anxiously pace the room. “Do you remember how easily we destroyed the Gem of Levage?”

  She nodded.

  “The Vitae is the only thing that is keeping Josh alive. That spell book has the ability to contain such objects, a spell that even a mediocre witch can perform. Do you think that is something he needs to know?” Isn’t it bad enough that we will spend the rest of our lives wondering if the Tre’ase that made her spirit shade is about to die?

  She held her breath for a moment before answering. “I will not tell him, but you should.”

  Awash with relief, I knelt and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  CHAPTER 19

  None of us slept. By the time we returned to Chicago the next morning, we were all exhausted. I went home for a shower and a chance to reflect. A few hours later, I met with Josh at the retreat to debrief Sebastian. Once in his office, I described everything that had transpired, from the deaths of Austin and Orchid to Sky’s encounter with Samuel.

  Sebastian’s lips pressed into a thin line as he absorbed the information. “She nearly betrayed the pack.”

  Josh explained in a rush, “She wasn’t in her right state of mind.”

  Sebastian ignored the outburst, coolly waiting for my assessment.

  “She doesn’t trust us,” I said matter-of-factly. “Samuel exploited that weakness, but she admitted their interaction before he could gain an advantage from her. No damage was done.”

  Sebastian rubbed the stress from his face. “Perhaps you were right, Ethan. She isn’t ready to be part of this pack, but she is one of us. As such, she is subject to our rules. And our punishments.”

  “She is guilty of listening to poison,” I said carefully.

  “Is she a risk?”

  “She’s still adjusting to our way of life,” Josh insisted, glancing to me for support. “She just needs more time.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “But she may never fully adjust. Once the Aufero is returned to her, we should minimize her role, use her abilities only when necessary. In the meantime, she understands that Samuel is trying to undermine us. I will keep an eye on her, but I don’t think she is a threat.”

  Sebastian leaned back in his chair, drawing his fingers together in a pyramid at his chest. “Will she listen to you?”

  I wasn’t sure. “Steven has returned,” I said after unclenching my jaw. “She trusts Winter, as well. I will talk to them about keeping her out of trouble.”

  “It might be safer to move her from the area, but I’d prefer not to.” As the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the country, it was a point of pride for Sebastian to take on reclamation projects like Gavin. Handling other packs’ problems was symbolic of our power. Sending Sky to another pack would give the impression of weakness.

  Josh said, “There is one more option to get rid of Marcia’s curse.” Ignoring my glare, he quickly explained his idea about using the Clostra.

  “Assuming there is such a spell,” Sebastian said carefully, “it would remove all curses.” The weight of unforeseen consequences weighed on him.

  “Yes,” Josh admitted.

  “Can we justify such a broad act to protect one of our own?”

  “Marcia has long used curses as a means to punish her rivals,” I said, a bitter edge to my voice. “Freeing her victims from their constraints would be a fitting punishment. Considering the emphasis she has placed on weaponizing curses as a means of maintaining power, it would be a direct blow to her power structure.”

  It would be revenge.

  “The ramifications extend beyond Marcia,” Sebastian reminded me. “To execute the spell, we would need to make a deal with Samuel.” His gaze fixed on me as I struggled to contain my anger at the mere mention of his name. “We obviously can’t give him the access he desires to the Clostra. Is there something else he’d take in payment?”

  Before I could answer, a tentative knock at the door disrupted me. Scowling, I opened it to find Sky’s determined green eyes staring up at me. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side and her heart was beating rapidly.

  “I went to see Logan,” she blurted.

  An abiding disappointment compressed against my chest, nearly collapsing my lungs. I should’ve been surprised, appalled, angry. In retrospect, Sky going to Logan seemed so inevitable that I almost blamed myself for not intervening. But she was an adult. She made her own decisions, and I was done protecting her from the consequences. Her mistakes were piling up, leaving us exhausted.

  Josh accepted the news with a pained disappointment, as his defense of her had just been nullified. With a tired gesture, Sebastian invited her to enter and take a seat. She seemed to wilt under his heavy stare.

  “I wanted to see if Logan could remove the curse,” she said.

  “Did you go alone?” Sebastian asked.

  Sky nodded.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “What was his price?”

  After letting out a ragged breath, she explained. “He has a weird fascination with Chris.” Her eyes flicked to me, but I gave her no reaction to gauge. “He wants to have her as some kind of companion.”

  “Servus Vinculum?” Josh asked. Seeing my confusion, he explained, “A magical binding that replicates the relationship between a vampire and its creator. It can only be used to bind a vampire to a human
. Logan would know that.”

  I sneered, “What did he want from you?”

  She sighed, choosing a spot on the wall to focus her attention as she continued, “He gave me a drug to incapacitate her. I was supposed to bring her to him so that he could cast the spell. Once she was bound to me,” she wet her lips, swallowed, “I could order her to serve him.”

  “You said ‘no,’” I assumed.

  “I tried to go through with it,” she admitted. “I was desperate. This curse, it’s like being in someone else’s skin.” She ran her hands down her thighs as she took in a deep breath. “I went to Chris’s house and drugged her, but then I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t.”

  My mouth fell open. I shut it before she could notice, but I had a difficult time suppressing my surprise. She wasn’t lying. She had the genuine demeanor of someone who had come close to doing the unforgivable and changed her mind. That she could drug Chris was a shock. That she’d even considered it was more so. As she had with Marcia, Sky had once again brought herself to the brink of self-destruction. This time, she’d saved herself, but she was teetering, looking to implode. Was she determined to live a life weighed by regret?

  If the news surprised Sebastian, he chose to remain stoic. “Did you make a formal agreement to do this?”

  “No,” she said, emphatically shaking her head. “It was an implied agreement.”

  “One that you did not fulfill,” I clarified.

  Josh, Sebastian, and I exchanged long glances while Sky gaped between us.

  “Did you hear what I did?” she demanded. She’d expected—needed—a rebuke. I’d come to realize her self-recriminations were more valuable.

  “Yes,” Sebastian answered. “You went over it in great detail. Do you have more to add?”

  She bristled.

  “Can Samuel be reasoned with?” he asked, changing the subject.

  She turned to me with a hardened glare, as if I’d betrayed a confidence. My loyalty to her was important, but her encounter with Samuel was directly relevant to the pack. When it came to the pack’s security, there were no secrets.

  “In which way?” she asked Sebastian. “He doesn’t seem like a psychopath, if that is what you are asking. Just an extremist with an agenda. He doesn’t think we should exist because we are monsters, and he thinks I am naïve enough to help him and fall for his rhetoric. Besides that ….” Her voice trailed off, and she gave a shrug.

  “Call him,” Sebastian said.

  “Now?”

  “No, six days from now,” he snapped. “Of course now. We need the third book—”

  “He’s not going to give it to you.”

  “Then I would like to hear that from him,” Sebastian stated, leaving no more room for argument. He slowly began to pace in front of his desk as he explained, “Josh believes that there has to be a spell in the Clostra that can remove all curses.”

  “We don’t have many choices,” Josh admitted.

  “I need to talk to him.”

  Sky pulled out her phone, dialed the number, and handed it to Sebastian.

  Samuel’s raspy voice sounded pleased, almost victorious. “Skylar.”

  “No, it’s Sebastian.”

  Silence. When Samuel finally spoke, his voice was harder, intractable. “I am not giving you the other book. And it is not for sale, either.”

  Sebastian chuckled, a rare expression that barely concealed a rising ire. “I am quite comfortable with you having the third book. But I need to borrow it.”

  Another pause, but Samuel was intrigued. “Borrow for a borrow.”

  “No. I don’t agree with your cause. Frankly, it’s a fatuous agenda. You will waste your life trying to end this world. It will not happen, but if you want to go on with your lost cause, have at it. You will never succeed, because in order for that to happen, you will need the other two, and you get those over my dead body. I have no concerns with that. Stronger and better than you have tried to best me and failed. But let me humor you. This magicless utopia that you dream of doesn’t have an iota of a chance of success without allies.”

  “I have no desire to be allies with beasts that present themselves as human.”

  A hint of anger rippled through Sebastian’s jaw. “The feeling is mutual; I don’t want you as an ally, either. However, I know a lot of really angry witches that have had their magic stripped from them by Marcia using the Aufero. You loan me the book and I can guarantee that their magic will be returned to them.” Sebastian paused. “I assure you their allegiance will no longer be to the Creed and Marcia, and they would be willing to align themselves with anyone who is against her. Don’t you think?”

  “I don’t need alliances,” Samuel said carefully—too carefully. “I do fine alone.”

  “Yeah, I saw how fine you did back at your little hideaway. Marcia and the Creed pretty much handed your ass to you and then made you thank them for the pleasure of doing so by forcing you into an agreement that restricts you from ever retaliating. What I saw wasn’t ‘fine’ by a long shot.”

  Samuel didn’t answer, but I could just make out his breathing on the other end.

  “Samuel,” Sebastian said after a long pause. He repeated the name twice more, before Samuel answered.

  “Yes,” he said, with a tone that suggested he might regret his decision. “I’ll send you an address.”

  “No. The books are safe here. I’ll not remove them from the property. You have my guarantee of safe passage.” After a short pause, he added, “You’ll leave with everything you bring with you.”

  “I’ll be there in two hours,” he stated and ended the call.

  Sebastian and I exchanged glances. The witch’s base of operations was much closer than we’d expected; he’d practically camped in our backyard.

  I passed the time in the pack’s gym, working out my frustrations. After an intense sparring session that sent Marko to Dr. Baker’s clinic with a displaced shoulder, I turned my attention to the free weights. By the time Sky found me, I was slick with sweat, working a heavy punching bag.

  “You aren’t imagining that bag is me, are you?” she asked.

  I paused, catching the bag with both hands to stop it from swaying. “Why would I?” Not waiting for an answer, I landed a quick combination of punches, finishing with a kick that nearly knocked the bag off its chain. “How was she when you left her?” I asked, steadying the bag once more.

  Sky shrugged. “She was Chris.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “She’s a broken, dysfunctional person. And not in a hyperbolic way, but truly. She wasn’t angry—she just wanted to know who the job was for and made a snide comment about me not completing it. Even though my job was to kidnap her.”

  I chuckled. “That sounds like her.”

  She frowned, folding her arms over her chest. I recognized the weight of guilt in her eyes as she turned inward. She would reflect a lot on her recent choices, probably for years. As long as she had regret to remind her, there was a chance she’d learn.

  I walked to her, watching the dance of her thoughts in her eyes. Empathizing with her internal conflict, I gently brushed my fingers along her cheek, then kissed her gently, intending the gesture as comfort, but it brought to mind our encounter in the hotel.

  Her body stiffened. Her lips froze, refusing to reply. Fresh anger beat in her chest as she whispered, “You said back at the restaurant that we shouldn’t let things between us get awkward.”

  “This is awkward?” I asked, taking a step back. Her body seemed poised to fight, but the color of attraction tinged her cheeks. Her feet remained planted, pointed toward me as if flight were unthinkable. “You don’t think it’s awkward,” I teased.

  “No. But I think it is the king of bad ideas.”

  I smiled at her discomfort. “Maybe you’re right.” Just for fun, I lifted my shirt over my head and tossed it aside before walking back to the bag. Timing the rhythm of her heart, I asked, “How many times did you
get sick tonight?”

  Her answer was immediate, defensive. “I didn’t,” she claimed, but her heart betrayed her.

  “Seventy-seven,” I said with an amused half-smile.

  Her fists clenched at her side and she strode out of the gym, mumbling, “That’s a stupid skill to have.”

  After another half hour with the bag, I toweled off, picked up my shirt, and glanced at my burner phone; two missed calls from Caroline, but no voice mail. Ignoring her, I walked upstairs to my room for a shower. As I walked in the door, my phone vibrated.

  A text message from Caroline. “I believe I’ve found the killer. I need your help to be sure. Did I scare you off? Are you avoiding me??”

  Scowling, I tossed the phone onto my bed and stripped. Steaming hot water washed away the sweat and soothed sore muscles, but did nothing for my anxiety.

  She’s getting desperate.

  Standing beneath the showerhead, I felt the water massage my scalp and run down my face while my mind rooted for the means to delay her a little longer, just until the Aufero was returned and Samuel was dealt with. By the time I watched the last of the water run down the drain, I still didn’t have an answer.

  Once dressed in a fresh shirt and jeans, I checked the time. Samuel would be arriving soon. Josh and Sky were probably already in the library with the Clostra. On my way to join them, I found Sebastian waiting for me in the hall with a determined look.

  “Did Samuel back out?” I growled.

  “On the contrary, he is on his way. Ethan”—his amber eyes settled steadily on mine—“I think it would be best if you weren’t here when he arrives.”

  I stiffened, holding his gaze and waiting for him to continue.

  “Given that Samuel captured and bound your brother, I’m not sure you’ll be able to restrain yourself from killing him.”

  My lips smacked in disgust. “He’ll be safe until we get what we want.”

  “It was one of Samuel’s conditions,” he said with a flat tone meant to minimize my outrage.