The Shadows Awaken (Guardians of the Night Book 1)

by Robyn Wideman

  Erica stood at the rail and stared out into the night. It was weird. She felt safer here on the balcony than she did anywhere else in the building. Something about Garg made her feel safer. Maybe that was the next thing on her research list: vampires and gargoyles. Finishing her smoke, Erica was now feeling the adrenaline wear off, she was ready to crash. “Goodnight, Garg,” she said before leaving the balcony. Climbing into bed, it was difficult to just pull the covers up to her chin. She resisted burying her head under the covers like she did as a frightened child.

  …

  Dante was tempted to talk to Erica. But to what end? His purpose was to protect her, not be her friend. On the other hand, he longed for human interaction. It had been so long, just sitting frozen in stone, waiting. Now that vampires had attacked, he was free to roam at will. The ancient spell that allowed him to switch between gargoyle and human form had been activated. Now that a human in his home had been attacked, he was free to use his powers, all of them. As long as Erica lived, he was once more a guardian. No more sitting. Years upon years of waiting for one worthy of protection were over!

  Dante De Bello was curious to see his home. The new surroundings of his mansion were so very different than his old estate in Italy. The times were so different from the last time he had been active. The world, with all its technology, had changed more since the last time he was awakened than it had in all the hundreds of years previously. From listening and observing, Dante had a pretty good understanding of all the changes, but hearing about change and seeing it firsthand were two different things. He missed roaming the halls of his home. He missed human interaction. His nightly conversations with Erica were interesting, but always a one-way interaction. Perhaps she would like to hear his point of view for once instead of just silence?

  Walking around as a human had its disadvantages as well. As a stone being he had no real deep feelings and emotions clouding his judgment. When in human form, he was just as vulnerable to emotions as were the humans around him. Anger clouded reasoning. Pity weakened resolve. Falling in love was always a danger. It was a foolish emotion, love, one that had cost him, dearly. It was love that drove him to seek out those mages and mystics in the first place.

  It was love that made him surrender his own life, so that he could protect his betrothed. When she ran in fear of his stone form, there was nothing he could do to regain her love. If only she had given him time, time to learn to control his powers. Now, he understood the nature of his gift from the mages. Now he understood the ramifications of his curse. The mages had done him no favors. They did not tell him what he was truly sacrificing in the name of love. But, that was the past, there was nothing he could do about that now. Now his dilemma was the choices he faced. Stay in stone form to protect his new house guest while staying in the shadows, or reveal himself.

  Dante knew that the shifters had moved his house, his mansion, in order to have him protect the woman, Erica, but that did not mean he owed them anything. He would do his duty as always, but beyond that, it was still his choice how he would go about it. It was one choice he had the power to make. He knew that he would soon have to make a decision. Soon, Erica would find out, from her research or from one of the shifters, his true nature. He could choose to ignore her, or choose to interact with her. Either way it was good to escape the forced confines of his stone perch at the corner of the mansion. There were a few shit-dropping birds he wished to squish, new surroundings to explore, and there was a desire to see his old bedroom. The fact that a beautiful woman inhabited his old room was of no consequence. At least that was what he told himself as he peered through the window where the curtains were parted.

  27

  JADEN AND JESS

  Jaden drove as fast as he could. He could have run almost as fast as the car could go, but Cain was not alone. The woman he was with would be in danger too, and if he were to rescue them both, he would need transportation. Jaden pressed the gas pedal down further and weaved through traffic, ignoring the honking of horns as he blew past the other cars.

  His hands vibrated against the steering wheel as adrenaline pulsed through his veins. He had to save his brother. The tires of the sports car screeched as he turned the wheel hard and pulled into the coffee house parking lot. Jaden slammed the on brakes, making the car slide and buck sideways as it fought the sudden change in momentum. With a screech of rubber burning its way into the pavement, the car stopped and Jaden jumped out. He could see that the attack had already started. Broken glass and rapid movement inside the coffee shop indicated he might not be too late.

  As Jaden ran through the door, his heart stopped. Time slowed in the most horrific way. Cain was on his knees, looking at Jaden and smiling. He watched as one vampire held Cain by the arms and another drove his arm into Cain’s chest. Jaden could hear the most terrifying sound as he watched the hunter begin to pull Cain’s heart out. The terrifying sound was his own screams as he watched his brother dying.

  When the vampire holding Cain’s heart heard Jaden’s screams of agony, he stopped and turned, flashing an evil sneer at Jaden. “You’re next, human-lover,” said the killer.

  The two vampires flew at Jaden. They meant to grab him and pin him like they had Cain. But Jaden was not Cain. While Cain was a quiet, thoughtful, and caring vampire who disliked violence, Jaden was different. He was Cain’s opposite. He thrived on violence, hunting, and the thrill of combat. Only his bond with Cain and his respect for their parent’s beliefs prevented Jaden from being a hunter of humans. Jaden had always been drawn to conflict. He had been a soldier during World War Two, Vietnam, and the conflict in the Middle East. He used his unique vampire abilities to excel in battle.

  It had been Cain who convinced him to leave the warrior life behind and settle down. For the love of his brother, Jaden had become a civilized vampire, cultured and calm. He had tried to be like Cain, but when threatened, his warrior instincts took over.

  The two closest vampires tried to grab Jaden’s arms. They mistook his standing still for fear. When they went to grab him, Jaden went into action. He reached out and grabbed their arms, pulling them closer. The vampires, caught off guard by his sudden movement, were thrown off balance and they stumbled as they were pulled into Jaden. Jaden then shifted. His fingernails stretched into razor-like claws, his fangs extended, and his eyes turned red. The color left his skin as the blood in his system pulsed towards his muscles. Jaden whipped his claws across the neck of the vampire on his left and simultaneously grabbed the back of the other vampire’s head, pulling hard on his hair and exposing his throat. He sunk his teeth into the vampire’s neck, briefly reveling the in taste of his blood before finishing the kill by crushing the vampire’s neck in his bite. Both vampires dropped to the floor, while the remaining two stood in shock. They had not anticipated such ferocious resistance.

  The vampire standing over Cain turned and rushed toward Jaden, the other vampire fast behind him. She howled as she attacked. Jaden broke into a sprint. As he came into striking distance, he leaped into the air and struck down with his left foot. It slammed on top of the attacker’s knee with a sickly snap as the kneecap broke. Jaden’s right knee then came up and struck the vampire’s chin, sending the vampire sprawling back. Jaden’s momentum carried him forward into the female vampire. They crashed together. He grabbed her head with both hands and gave it a hard twist. Her neck broke and she flopped and twitched as Jaden held her head. He let go and turned back to Cain’s attacker. The vampire was trying to get up despite his broken knee, bracing all his weight on his good leg as he stood. Jaden did a side kick, striking the vampire’s good knee. He crumbled to the ground.

  Jaden walked up to the vampire. “Why has the council attacked us?”

  The vampire stared up at Jaden. He hissed, “The council is going to send this world into apocalypse. There will be no room for human-lovers in the new world. Vampires are going to retake their rightful place as rulers of this world.”

  “Interesting,” said Jad
en as he studied the vampire. “It is a shame you’ll never see this new world.” Jaden drove his hand into the vampire’s chest. His claws acted like a knife, slicing into the vampire’s chest. He grabbed the heart and held it in his hand. The vampire gasped in agony as Jaden leaned down and whispered into his ear, “The knees were for me. This is for Cain.” He then pulled the vampire’s heart out his chest.

  Jaden stood up and looked around the coffee shop. All of the hunter vampires were dead. In fact, there were only two discernable hearts still beating in the coffee shop. Incredibly, his brother had survived the attack, although he was severely weakened and would not survive much longer without help. Jaden could feel the heartbeat of one remaining human as well. The woman that Cain had saved was still alive. She was curled up in the corner behind the counter. Cain must have hidden her there, stalling for time while he waited for Jaden to arrive. Jaden walked to her and knelt down. “Come with me, we have to go,” Jaden said as softly and as gently as he could. He put her in the car, and then returned to check on Cain.

  He was alive, but barely. The vampire had sliced open Cain’s chest, but his heart remained intact. The wound was large, open, and nasty. Vampire claws did not make clean wounds. Jaden picked Cain up and put him in the back seat.

  …

  Jess sat in the car, trembling uncontrollably. Everything had happened so fast once the four vampires had stepped out of the car and made their way across the street to the coffee shop. She’d been sitting at the table with Cain, trying to enjoy her last few moments with him, when suddenly he was on his feet. “They’re coming,” he said as he scooped her up and placed her in hiding behind the counter, all in the space of a breathtaking millisecond.

  As she had crouched behind the counter, she’d witnessed the vampires killing the two coffee house staff members and four remaining patrons with quick efficiency. They were lucky, she realized, when they turned their attention to Cain. Too terrified to watch, she’d only been able to hear the vampires threatening and hitting him. They’d tried to get him to give up Jaden’s location, but he had taken the beatings and just laughed. Finally, when they gave him one last chance, she’d heard Cain say, “You don’t need to look for Jaden anymore. He’s here.” Hearing that, Jess braved another look over the counter, just in time to see Cain’s chest being opened as Jaden walked through the door.

  Horrified, Jess flattened herself against the floor again as she listened to Jaden do violent battle the four hunters. It was over in a matter of moments and she heard what he said to the last vampire just before he killed him. She took brief satisfaction in knowing justice had been swiftly served, but the knowledge that once again someone had entered her life and died crashed into her with an abruptness that left her struggling for breath.

  “Come with me, we have to go,” she heard him say and she looked up to see Jaden kneeling before her. Not knowing what else to do, Jess took his outstretched hand and rose, silently following him out the door and into the waiting car. She watched as Jaden returned to the coffee house and gently gathered up his brother, returning a moment later to place him in the back seat.

  Jess stared at him, his chest torn and bloody, and thought she saw movement. She stared harder, not convinced that she wasn’t imagining things. She saw his chest rise again. “He’s alive,” she whispered.

  “Yes,” said Jaden as he climbed into the driver's seat. “But he’s lost a lot of blood and vampire claws create some nasty wounds that don’t heal normally. It’s going to take him a while to heal.”

  Jess continued to watch the weak rise and fall of Cain’s chest as Jaden drove. “If he drank my blood, would he heal faster?” she asked after a few minutes. “I’ll let him.”

  Jaden glanced over at her, surprise on his face. “Why would you do that? You barely know him.”

  “Because the two of you saved me. I owe you both, it’s the least I can do,” answered Jess. And I feel a connection to him. The realization surprised her, but it was true. The notes, the way he’d looked at her, and the kiss, they had affected her more than she might have otherwise admitted. She was infatuated with Cain.

  “Thank you,” said Jaden. “But there is something else that will help more than your blood.”

  “What?” asked Jess as they pulled into the driveway of a huge estate. They’d arrived at the home of the Butlers.

  “Mine,” said Jaden softly as he brought the car to a halt.

  28

  SERENA

  When the hunters failed to check in after the Butler brothers should have been eliminated, Serena knew something had gone awry. She allowed herself a moment to hope that Jaden had escaped unharmed and then she went back to work, making a phone call to have the mess cleaned up.

  “Agent Weeks,” answered the FBI agent on the other end of the call.

  “Scarecrow,” Serena said before hanging up.

  Seconds later, Agent Weeks called her back. This time he was on a second cell phone, an untraceable encrypted number. “What you need?” asked the federal agent.

  “Lucas has not reported in; I suspect mission failure. Organize a cleanup and report back. We need to know if the targets were successfully eliminated.”

  “On it,” replied the agent.

  Serena hung up the phone. Infiltrating the Federal Bureau of Investigations had been difficult. Not as difficult as some of the other levels of government they had gotten vampires into, but for her purposes, it was one of the most valuable. The investigation would be handled by vampires and swept under the rug. No one would ever utter the word 'vampire' in regards to the Taste of Bliss coffee shop murders. The media would get a leaked report of gang execution and the story would quickly die. Too many other world events of greater importance would be the focus of the media.

  The important question remained: had her warning saved the Butler brothers? The lack of response from Lucas indicated that something had gone wrong in the attack, but what had actually happened? And did she want to know? She wanted Jaden to be alive, but her own situation would be very perilous if he was. Serena leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do now but wait for the phone call from Agent Weeks.

  Two hours later, Serena got the call she’d been waiting for.

  “I’m at the scene now. Your hunter team is dead and there is no sign of the Butlers. From the looks of it, your team probably had one of them cornered and contained until the other arrived.”

  They had Cain until Jaden arrived, thought Serena. She felt flooded with relief. “How many dead humans?” asked Serena, feigning a desire to do her job as efficiently as possible.

  “There were six, two coffee shop employees and four patrons. They appear to have been two couples who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “I believe that means there is still a witness alive then,” said Serena. “Thank you, Agent Weeks. Clean up things, make sure our dead do not go to autopsy, and get the gang murder rumor out as soon as possible.”

  “You had better send a better team to finish the job,” said Agent Weeks as he hung up.

  Serena nodded to herself in agreement. Yes, a better team indeed. The problem was, Lucas’s team was one of the best, all accomplished killers and well-trained. But killing vampires was an entirely different proposition than hunting humans, and Jaden Butler was not your average vampire. He was the most dangerous prey they had ever attempted to kill and now that he knew he was being hunted, Jaden would be even more dangerous. Serena was torn between feeling relief that Jaden lived, and guilt over the fact that she had ordered his death. Jaden could very well start hunting her. She was now fully in the storm. If Vladimir found out what she had done, she would die. If Jaden wanted revenge, she might die. But all she could do was let the cards fall as they may. Serena had no choice; the apocalypse was coming no matter what she did.

  29

  JESS

  Jess watched as Jaden slid the knife across his wrist and held his arm over Cain, letting the blood drip s
lowly onto his mouth. When he started to respond to the blood, Jaden lowered his arm until it was resting against Cain’s mouth. Jaden’s blood worked quickly to revive Cain and after a few moments, he was holding Jaden’s wrist to his mouth and sucking hard. Jess was fascinated by the gruesome display.

  After a minute, Jaden pulled his arm away and Jess could tell that Cain’s strength was already returning by the way he had to tug his wrist from Cain’s grasp. “That should do it,” he said as he stumbled. Jess grabbed a hold of him and helped him to the next couch.

  “Thank you.” He was weak and woozy from the lost blood, but it had been necessary. “I need to rest for a bit. I’ll be okay in a little while. Wake me if something is wrong,” said Jaden before passing out.

  Jess looked at the two vampire brothers, each one lying on a couch. Cain had settled back down and was sleeping again. They were both weak and vulnerable right now. She could kill them, or walk out and run away, and neither would be able to stop her. Instead, she went looking for the kitchen. I need a drink.

  She found the kitchen and looked around in admiration at the dark wood cabinets, gleaming granite countertops, and perfectly polished stainless steel appliances. Almost makes a girl wish she could cook. Jess found a wine rack built into the side of the island and pulled out a bottle of red wine. She found a glass next and was soon taking a healthy swallow. Holy fuck, what a night. She felt her knees buckle and slid herself onto a stool.

  She felt her phone suddenly start to vibrate. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. There were several missed calls and text messages from Mandy. Jess read the last one sent.

  Hey, I went to the coffee shop looking for you. Cops everywhere. No one’s saying what’s going on. Freaking out!! Call me!