Hunting Shadows (Abyss of Shadows Book 1)

by Rain Oxford

  For a long time, I was happy living at the coven. Although I didn’t find any clues to my father’s whereabouts, I felt like I was getting closer. However, by the time I was twenty, I couldn’t keep my feelings quiet anymore. I went to Astrid’s room one night when she got home. While she was brushing her hair, I sat next to her on her bed. “I’m going to leave.”

  “I’ll go with you. We can find your father together.”

  “My father isn’t the only reason.”

  “Then what is it?”

  It wasn’t that easy to admit my feelings for her, so I kissed her. Although she didn’t push me away, she didn’t kiss me back. “Tell me you feel something for me other than just friendship, and I’ll stay.”

  She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. “I’ve only kissed one person before. Devon tried to help me and trusted me enough to sleep next to me. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor in his kitchen, covered in his parents’ blood. Then he shot me. I followed him at a distance, just to make sure he was safe. I don’t know why, but I felt like someone was after him. That’s why I healed Cody; he was important to Devon.”

  “Do you still love Devon, even after he shot you?”

  She nodded. “I can’t blame him for that. He never would have had to shoot anyone if it weren’t for me. I just… don’t think I’m ready to move on. I don’t really know if I ever will be. I can’t love you or anyone that way because I’ll just end up hurting you.”

  “And maybe because he will take you back?”

  “I want forgiveness, that’s all.”

  Chapter 5

  “You’re gay?” Logan asked.

  I scoffed. “That’s really the first thing you ask?”

  He shrugged. “I meant no offense.”

  “Does it matter to you? If I’m offended, I mean.”

  “Not really; it is just something people like to hear. If you’re so easily offended, it is hardly my problem. I do take you for someone with a little more steel in your blood, though.”

  I laughed. “I am attracted to a person’s personality, not gender.”

  “And what kind of personality are you attracted to, Ms. Ares?”

  “Someone who isn’t afraid of offending people, but isn’t an asshole for the sake of being an asshole, either.”

  We reached the motel and parked. “If I carry you into a motel room, people are going to assume I’m carrying a body. Would an umbrella be enough to protect you from the sunlight?”

  “No, but this blanket is. I can walk and shield my face. My eyes are too sensitive to the light, though, so I’ll need you to guide me in.”

  “Okay.” He unclipped the seatbelt and helped me stand, then turned me to face away from the sun and unwrapped the blanket.

  I kept my eyes closed, completely relying on him not to burn me. It was the first time my life was in the hands of someone else since I became a vampire. Why I trusted him, I had no idea. He raised my arms over my head and folded the blanket over them.

  “It’s about an inch above the ground, so be careful not to trip. I’ll tell you to stop if it snags on anything.” He put his hand on the small of my back through the blanket. “Walk forward for eight steps.”

  I counted them silently and stopped.

  “There’s a step up, five inches.” I stepped up. “Take three steps to your left and five steps forward.” When I did, he patted my back. “Now, I just need your key.”

  “It’s in my left back pocket.”

  He leaned close and brushed his hand across my ass before reaching into my pocket, then pulled out the key without saying anything and unlocked the door. I sensed Deimos and Phobos backing out of the doorway. Once I was in, Logan shut the door, cutting off the light. “You’re safe,” he said, setting me down gently on the bed.

  I dropped the blanket, pulled off my jacket, and rubbed my arms. No sunlight reached my skin through all the layers, but being that close to death made my skin crawl. Deimos growled and sniffed me. “I’m fine,” I said, standing.

  Logan didn’t step back, though, so we were about an inch apart. The atmosphere instantly changed. It was a challenge; one of us had to either retreat or advance. Since I couldn’t smell his emotion, I was surprised when he leaned over to kiss me. Sure, I could have fought him easily. I just didn’t want to. Instead, I put my finger on his lips an inch away from mine and he stopped immediately.

  I smirked. “I don’t kiss people who won’t call me by my first name.”

  “Well, you’re a needy one, aren’t you, Aurora?” He stepped back. “I’m going to get something. I’ll be back by nightfall.”

  “What about the list of possible missing kids?”

  “I have it, but that can wait.” He left without another word, so I couldn’t argue.

  Deimos grumbled. “You’re right,” I said. “He is very weird.” I got in the bed, turned on the television, and told the boys everything that had happened since I left them to check out the therapist’s office. Pretty soon, I fell asleep.

  * * *

  I knew something was wrong even before I opened my eyes. It was cold, but my skin felt somewhat numb. In fact, I couldn’t smell Deimos or Phobos or hear cars outside. I opened my eyes and tried to roll over. My body didn’t move.

  I was able to turn my head very slightly, which was enough to see Phobos on the bed next to me… covered in blood. My left arm was between him and me, covered in blood that was still very warm.

  A light pressure started in the middle of my chest and grew heavier and heavier until I couldn’t breathe. Something appeared, kneeling on my chest. It was a girl, sort of, except she was quite obviously dead.

  I tried unsuccessfully to speak. My mouth wouldn’t open. She grinned, leaned in, and said, “He’s coming for you next. He sees you and he’s coming to get you.” Her voice was both child-like and sinister.

  I closed my eyes, focused my mind, and counted to five as I inhaled through my nose and then counted to down as I exhaled through my mouth. It was what Cody did when he wasn’t in control of himself.

  A sharp pain startled me awake and I opened my eyes to see that I was alone with Deimos and Phobos, who were both very much alive. I sighed with relief, sweating and breathing heavily.

  I got up, showered, drank a bottle of blood, and told Deimos and Phobos about my dream. Of course, I didn’t really think it was a dream.

  When darkness fell, we walked to Dr. Brian’s home using the GPS on my phone to guide us. The house was small, one story, and not impressive from the outside. I approached the front door and knocked, then glanced around as I waited for the counselor to answer. There was no one outside, as if everyone knew something was going on.

  The door opened to a middle-aged man. His light brown hair was heavily dusted with gray and frown lines aged him. I smelled more stress and misery on him than worry or confusion. He was a person who took everything negatively.

  “Hi. My name is Aurora. Can I come in? Thanks.” I pushed him out of the doorway and walked inside the house. “Deimos, keep a watch on the property. Phobos, search for a scent.” Deimos stayed outside and Phobos disappeared into the kitchen.

  The living room was spacious with white walls and three doors. The wooden coffee table was covered in papers, the couch was well-used, and the television was on the news channel, though muted. Dr. Brian started to say something, which I wasn’t interested in hearing.

  “You have files on Kenneth Oak, Andrea Sherwood, and Lillian Hartwell in your office. Or, rather, you had files in your office.”

  “What were you doing in my office?!”

  I turned to face him, grabbed him by the front of his shirt with my right hand, and shut the door with my left. “Don’t worry about that. What do you know about the missing kids?”

  “Nothing! Who are you?!”

  I grasped his jaw and forced him to look me in the eyes. As he did, my power stilled his mind. Some ancient vampires, like Stephen, could thrall someone using only their voice. Although
I wasn’t nearly that powerful, I was exceptionally proficient at it for my age. Maybe it was because I often tested my limits.

  Some vampires, like Cody, struggled with the morality of it. For me, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, including humans, and the only way to survive was to use the strengths we had, which included my thrall. It didn’t matter if I was using it on a human or another paranormal.

  “For the next ten minutes, if you lie, it will feel like someone is punching you in the face. With every lie, the pain gets worse.” I let him go and he blinked with confusion.

  “What did you do to me?”

  “What did you do to the children?”

  “Nothing!” Then he grunted with pain.

  “So, you do know what happened to them.”

  “No!” He stumbled this time, breathing heavily.

  “I highly suggest that you tell the truth.” I grabbed his arm and sat him on the couch. “I know you are involved in the disappearance of the kids. The cops know about three. How many more are missing?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” This time, he yelled with pain. “Okay! I’ll tell you! Just make the pain stop!”

  “How many kids were taken?”

  “Six.” He was gasping as if telling the truth was a strain. “Please. I can’t tell you anything.”

  “You can and will.”

  “I’ll call the cops.”

  “You already admitted to knowing there are more kids missing than the cops know. Do you want to explain that to them?”

  “They’ll understand that it was under duress.”

  “I don’t really care. You’re not going to make it long enough to call the police. If you don’t start confessing, I’m going to start breaking you.”

  “I have nothing to confess.” His teeth snapped shut as he tried to hold back another shout of pain. “I can’t tell you! He’ll do worse to me if I tell you!”

  “Who will?” He shook his head furiously. “Fine. We’ll get back to that. Are the kids alive?”

  “He’ll kill me.”

  Phobos came in and growled at the ceiling. I ignored him. “I’ll do much worse than that if you don’t tell me. Are they alive?”

  “Yes. For now.”

  “Where are they?”

  Before he could answer, the lights started flickering, the temperature dropped, Dr. Brian started shaking harder, and Phobos snapped his jaws in fury. “He’s here. He knows I told you.”

  “You haven’t told me shit. Where are the kids?” I felt like there was a much more powerful predator closing in, and that wasn’t something I was used to. It wasn’t enough to make me retreat, however.

  “He’s not going to let me tell you. I’ve already told you too much.”

  “Did you use magic to take the kids or did you make them leave on their own?”

  “I didn’t…” he trailed off, afraid to lie. “I only picked them. Look, you have magic, right? You can protect me from him?”

  “From who?”

  “I only told him which kids to take, I swear. Stop him and I’ll tell you everything.”

  “How do I stop him?”

  “He can’t---” He gasped, clutched his chest, sat forward, and puked up blood onto the floor. “Help---” Then he screamed in pain. The couch and him in it was thrown back against the wall. Blood started dripping from his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose.

  I took a step towards him, only to be stopped by Phobos. “Who is doing this?”

  He opened his mouth to speak, coughed up blood, and started tearing at his shirt. His heart beat out of control… and then it stopped. Everything returned to normal, including the lights.

  “For fuck’s sake.” I didn’t need to check his pulse to know he was dead, and there was way too much blood loss to revive him. I wasn’t getting any more information out of his mouth. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t find answers in his house. “Did you find anything?” I asked Phobos.

  He shook his head.

  I searched every room for any paper trail and, not surprisingly, I didn’t find any. He was really good at hiding his tracks. He probably burned the files on the kids. My phone vibrated with a text.

  Where are you?

  At the counselor’s house.

  I checked the computer, which didn’t have a password. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything. After about fifteen minutes of searching through his emails, the monitor flickered off. “Not this again.”

  “What did you find?” Logan asked, suddenly right behind me.

  “Damn it, Logan! How do you keep doing that?!”

  “You were distracted.”

  Phobos was sitting right next to me, not bothered in the least that Logan was there. “Next time he sneaks up on me, you tell me,” I scolded.

  Phobos grumbled something and left the room.

  “Tell me what you learned,” Logan said.

  “Because you’ve been so forthcoming with information. Where have you been?”

  “I went to my shop to get this.” He held out a folded black robe, much like the wizards wore.”

  “You took a plane to Oregon to get a robe?”

  “Try it on.”

  “It’s not really my style.”

  “Make it your style. This is no ordinary robe.”

  I put it on. It was light, soft, and a perfect fit. He also handed me a pair of gloves made of the same material, which I put on without arguing. “Is there a trick to this?”

  “It blocks out a hundred percent of any and all light. It was created for vampires. You’ll have to cover your face, but it’ll protect anything you cover.”

  “Thank you,” I said, surprised. “Wait, there’s a price for this, right?”

  “This one is on me. You’re of no use to me dead. Speaking of which, did you see what killed the man in the living room?”

  “No, I definitely didn’t see who killed him. I did see him die, though.”

  “An invisible opponent?”

  “I didn’t hear anyone.” Although I still didn’t completely trust Logan, I told him about what happened at the diner, the school, and my motel room.

  He was frowning thoughtfully by the time I was done. “It sounds like someone is messing with you. It also sounds like the kids were experiencing the same thing before they were taken. Maybe someone saw you investigating while I wasn’t around and chose you next.”

  “The counselor chose who was taken, but he was working with someone else. He was starting to tell me and was attacked. He said ‘he’ would know what we were saying. It sounds like Dr. Brian’s accomplice is a lot more powerful than him.”

  “Are the kids alive?”

  “He said they are for now. There are six of them. That’s all I got, though. We’re missing large chunks of information.”

  “That’s because in magic, the rules are anything but simple.”

  “Did you sense magic?”

  “All over the living room. Something pretty powerful was in there.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to me. “This is the list of kids who haven’t shown up for school. I left off Kenneth, Andrea, and Lilly, since we knew they were missing already.”

  There were five kids on the list, including Rome Phelps. “Alright. Let’s get started.”

  * * *

  We went to Rome’s home first. It was one of the more rundown houses. Deimos growled and scratched at the door. When we knocked, no one answered, so I turned the knob. It wasn’t locked. The strong stench of blood hit me instantly. “Do you smell that?” Logan asked.

  The living room was a little cluttered. I followed the scent to a pile of newspapers in front of the couch. Before touching anything, I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures of it. Once I was done, I picked up the newspapers and wasn’t surprised to see the blood stain on the beige carpet. It was dry.

  “Deimos and Phobos, search the house.” They both took off, only for Deimos to return a few minutes later and sat do
wn in front of me. “The house is empty.”

  It was a small, two bedroom house. As we searched Rome’s mother’s room, Phobos howled, so we returned to the living room to find Phobos sticking his nose under the couch and pawing for something. I easily lifted the couch and moved it back against the wall, revealing a phone.

  “You weren’t joking about vampire strength. I bet you’ve never had to ask a man to open a jar for you,” Logan said, picking the phone up. Despite his humorous tone, his expression was serious. “The last number called was ‘911.’”

  “Is this the mother or child’s blood?” I asked Phobos. He went to the mother’s room and hopped onto the bed.

  “If only he was more straightforward,” Logan said. Phobos leapt off the bed and put his forepaws on Logan’s chest. Logan grabbed Phobos’s ears playfully. “Get off me, little guy, I was just kidding.”

  Logan was quite intriguing, although it was also rather unnerving that I couldn’t smell his emotions. “Do you sense any magic in here?”

  He pushed Phobos off him gently and checked the closet. “No.” We found the girl’s room next. The bed was broken and pushed up against the wall. “There was definitely something very powerful in here.”

  I nodded. We searched the rest of the room and found no other clues, let alone signs of witchcraft.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the house of Alec Wallace. It was a pretty rundown house, even going so far as to have two boarded up windows. As we approached the porch, a dog in the back yard barked at us. Phobos and Deimos ignored it, not at all intimidated. I knocked on the door and waited. Someone shouted for someone else to answer the door.

  “I don’t think anyone is dead here,” Logan said, sounding more disappointed than pleased.

  The woman who answered the door was very thin with straw-blond hair, a bad sunburn, and a cigarette in her hand. “Yeah?” she asked.