The Company of Shadows (The Company #1)

by Olsen, Lisa

  Elevator or stairs? Elevator or stairs?

  It was a fair guess he’d beat her by the time she ran up five flights of stairs, so Cady punched the elevator button, only now daring to look behind her as the door slowly slid open. Ash threw open the lobby door just as she darted into the elevator, a puzzled expression on his face. The bastard didn’t even look out of breath.

  “Come on, come on…” she murmured, jamming on the door close button, until the stupid thing rolled shut, moving slower than molasses. “Shit, shit, shit…” She had to reach Ethan, but there was no signal in the ancient elevator. Her fingers flew over the keys, sending a text instead in the hopes that it’d go through the instant the signal strength improved.

  He’s here, at the apartment, come quick.

  The ride to the fifth floor seemed to take forever, and Cady wondered if she wouldn’t be safer getting off on another floor and trying to run back outside again. But where would she go? No, her best bet was to get into her apartment and trust that Ethan’s symbols would keep her safe.

  The elevator arrived at the top floor with a jerk, the door rolling open to reveal a deserted hallway. Cady darted across the hall, heart hammering away as she tried to get the key into the lock with trembling hands.

  “Why do you run from me? Is it this body?”

  Cady was unable to keep from looking, even though it cost her precious seconds. Dylan -- no, Ash -- stood by the stairwell, eyes narrowed as he studied her. The deadbolt turned with a satisfying click, and Cady moved on to the lock in the doorknob, ignoring him as best she could.

  “I can easily choose another. I only wanted to get you alone.” The key slid home but before she could turn the knob, his hand closed over her wrist. “Talk to me, let me hear your voice,” he entreated.

  His grip was like steel as she tried to wrench her hand out of his, and Cady winced as pain lanced up her arm when he twisted her grip away from the door. “Let me go, I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

  “Cady… I don’t understand. We’ve spent so much time together, much more than I’ve ever spent with any man or woman. You know me. Why can I feel your heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings?” He laid a hand over her breast and Cady froze, her breath coming in short gasps as her body strained for air.

  “None of that was real.”

  “Of course not, it was a dream. But I am the same man you came to know. You need not fear me.” He smiled, and Cady saw the tilt of her dream lover’s smile trapped behind the repellant mask.

  “Are you kidding me?” Hysterical laughter bubbled from her lips. “How can I not be afraid of you? How can you stand there and pretend to be a man when we both know you’re not?” she bit back at him. “We both know you’re a brutal killer.”

  His face clouded, as if struggling to find the right words, perhaps to understand it himself. “I sometimes need… I don’t… I don’t want to be bad anymore.”

  She gaped at him, unsure what to make of that pronouncement, the almost childish statement in the face of his crimes. “Then don’t. Don’t do this to me, let me go,” Cady begged, tugging lightly against his grip.

  His brows drew together, removing his hand from her chest to encircle her wrist. “We shouldn’t linger here. Come with me, there’s so much I want to tell you, so much to share.”

  Cady threw her full weight in the opposite direction, feet sliding as he dragged her along. “I’m not going with you. I’ll scream bloody murder and everyone will come running.”

  “Don’t make me hurt anyone else, Cady,” his dark eyes turned to her sadly. “I only want to be with you.” Pulling her roughly against him, he kissed her hard, his mouth demanding. Cady struggled weakly, before she remembered the pendant. Pressing the catch, she pulled the rusty barb free, stabbing him through the hand as hard as she could. Wriggling out of his grip as he froze in a mixture of shock and pain, Cady scrambled back to the door where the key still stood in the lock. The knob turned even as she heard his anguished cry and she glanced back in time to see him pull the rusty metal free.

  She made it across the threshold only seconds before he collided with the protective barrier, his face contorted with rage. Cady could only stare as Ethan’s magic kept him out better than a steel reinforced door.

  “Let me in!” Ash demanded, pounding his fists into the invisible wall again and again.

  “Fuck off!” she yelled back, “I don’t want you, get it through your thick skull!”

  “I will have you!” he thundered, hitting the barrier with so much force, she felt the walls shake. Cady watched with sick dread as a terrible gleam came into his eyes. “I will have you one way or another.” The next hit came not on the magical barrier, but on the wall next to it. Ordinary sheetrock was no match for his demon strength and on the second punch, Cady saw his bloody knuckles through the cracked paint.

  “Oh shit.” Backing towards the kitchen, she grabbed the biggest knife she could find, feeling hopelessly unprotected. Why didn’t Ethan come? She had her phone with her and a signal now, she could call the cops, but what good would that do? By the time they got there, if they came at all, she’d be long dead. From the lack of response by the neighbors, she figured she couldn’t count on any help from them either.

  The hole grew bigger at an alarming rate, and Cady could see most of his torso now as Ash tore away at the larger chunks of drywall. Trying to pull it together, she inched closer to the wall, slashing at his arm as it broke through to grab hold of the wall again. The knife sliced open a gash along the top of his forearm, but the demon didn’t so much as pause, enlarging the hole until he stuck his entire upper half in to try and grab her. Cady danced away from the hole, knife held at the ready, and with one mighty kick, he broke through enough to step into her apartment. So much for their security deposit.

  “To the victor goes the spoils,” he grinned in triumph, pushing the lank hair away from his brow where it had come loose from the ponytail.

  “This war is nowhere near over,” she said with bravado.

  “You are so spirited, such a delightful change from the women who fall at my feet with a single glance.” He advanced slowly and she got the sense that he was toying with her. “I admit, it gets the blood pumping.”

  “Great, let’s see some of it,” Cady tossed back, hacking the air with her knife when he advanced a step closer.

  Ash chuckled, easily evading her clumsy slash. “Bloodthirsty little thing, aren’t you? I’ve never seen this side of you before. I wonder what other delights you have in store for me.” Moving faster than she thought possible, he plucked the knife from her hand, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter. “Careful now, I don’t want you to cut yourself,” he chided.

  The stairwell door flew open in the hallway, drawing his attention, and Cady turned her head to see Ethan slide up to the open door. The demon’s hold on her shifted, once more using her as a human shield, as he had in the parking lot.

  “I know she’s as precious to you as she is to me. Careful how you step,” Ash taunted, his hand at her throat.

  “Christ, shoot him anyway,” Cady called back, unable to keep from smiling at Ethan’s arrival. “It’ll be worth it to shut him up.”

  “No, he’s right, Cady,” Ethan replied, tucking the gun into the back of his pants, his hands coming up. “I don’t want to see her get hurt. I don’t think either one of us does. Why don’t you let her go and then you and I can finish this?”

  “You must think me a fool if you think I’ll release her so easily,” Ash scoffed, making no move to ease his grip on Cady’s neck.

  “Not at all. But you’re a fool if you think I’ll let you take her out of here. I don’t want to see her hurt, but I’d rather kill her myself than see her in your hands.”

  “Ethan!” Cady gasped, but he refused to look at her.

  “I feel the same. If I can’t have her, then no man will. How do you propose we settle this?”

  “We both
want her. I say we fight for her, winner take all.”

  “I already have her in my grasp. Why should I let her go?”

  “Aw fuck it, I’m tired of this bullshit.” Ethan slumped for a moment, coming up with the rusty dagger in hand when he straightened. In a flash he threw it with deadly aim straight at them. The dagger whizzed past Cady’s head, only a finger’s breadth away from her eye to sink into the demon’s chest. Ash reeled backwards, and Cady lurched out of his grasp, scrambling for the dropped knife even as Ethan rushed in.

  “Are you okay?” he asked before he was even completely through.

  “Yes, but…” Cady looked back to see Ash staggering towards the window, hand clasped around the hilt of the knife. “Ethan, he’s…” The demon tottered at the open window, pitching headlong into the open air.

  Ethan swore under his breath, racing for the window.

  “Wait, you’re not going out after him like that, are you?” she demanded. “Take the stairs!”

  “There’s no time.” Ethan dug into his pocket, tossing her a ring of keys before he swung his legs out the window. “Go into my apartment and lock it up tight. There’s a gun in my desk drawer. Don’t open the door for anyone but me, not even your brother.”

  “What if he gets you?”

  “That’s what the gun is for,” Ethan said, launching himself out the window.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Ethan, no!” Cady ran to the window, the scream dying in the back of her throat as she stuck her head out to peer at the street below. It was too dark to see much, but she thought she saw shapes moving in the shadows. There wasn’t time to think about what might lay at the bottom of the alley, she had to get moving.

  Snatching up the keys, Cady abandoned the ruined apartment, taking longer than she liked to navigate the three separate locks on Ethan’s door. Once inside, she locked them all up again, including the flimsy chain and butterfly lock at the top of the door. Ordinarily such a display of hardware might make her feel secure, but after watching Ash bust his way through the wall of her apartment, Cady didn’t feel better until she found the gun in Ethan’s office.

  It had been a long time since she’d held a gun in her hand. Her father had insisted on showing her the basics for her own protection, but she located the safety without too much trouble. Dragging his office chair into the corner of the living room where she could watch the door but still dart into another room if need be, she sat and waited, growing more and more anxious by the minute.

  Despite her earlier words of bravado, Cady was shaken to the core and her frazzled nerves reflected it. Every creak and movement in the old apartment building had her jumping at shadows, the gun trembling in her hands as she tried to defend against imagined dangers.

  The knock at the door made her heart clench painfully, and she rose slowly, too apprehensive to approach the door.

  “Cady, it’s me, let me in.” Ethan’s voice came through, but Cady forced herself to hang back, to make sure.

  “How do I know it’s really you?”

  “It’s really me,” he called back. “I should have told you before, he can’t get into me like he can with other people. The tattoos protect me from being taken against my will.”

  “They do?” she blinked. That sounded awfully convenient.

  “Of course. Can you imagine how tough he’d be to kill if he got into someone like me?”

  “That doesn’t prove anything. You could be making that up.”

  “Cady, it’s me, I swear.”

  “That’s exactly what he’d say,” she muttered, but she let him in anyway. What choice did she have? If it really was Ash, it wasn’t like she could keep him out for too long anyway. Ethan slipped inside quickly the instant she unlocked the door, not bothering to secure the locks.

  “Are you alright?” he demanded, taking the gun from her hands and setting it on the kitchen counter, favoring his right leg as he walked.

  “I feel like I should be asking you the same. Did you hurt your leg in the fall?”

  “It’s not bad.”

  Of course not, it never was. “Did you get him?”

  Ethan brushed past her into the office where he retrieved a black duffle bag, heavy from the look of it. “We have to get moving, we don’t have much time.”

  “You didn’t get him then.” That much seemed certain. “Where are we going?”

  “You’re not safe here anymore, neither of us are. We have to leave before he comes back, or someone sends the cops around.” The laptop on the desk went into the bag, as well as a sketchbook and a flat plastic box.

  “We have to leave now? But what about Ian?”

  “We can’t take the chance and wait around. You’ll have to contact him later.”

  While she understood his reasons for urgency, Cady couldn’t help but think about how Ian would react when he got a look at the apartment. “Can I at least leave him a note?”

  “And say what? You can’t tell him anything about what’s going on or where you’re going.” Zipping up the bag, he tucked the extra gun into the inside pocket of his jacket. “Come on, we have to move.”

  Cady nodded mutely, darting one last look at the ruin of her apartment before she followed him into the stairwell. She was about to suggest the elevator, given his limp, but she thought better of it. He’d just insist he’d be fine anyway and she trusted him to know what he was doing.

  “You drive,” he ordered, sliding into the passenger’s seat with a groan, and Cady obeyed without questioning him.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Drive East like you’re going towards work, I’ll give you directions in a few blocks.” Ethan’s attention seemed scattered, his focus on the mirrors and she guessed he wanted to make sure they weren’t being followed. Only once they were on the road for several minutes and after three course changes did he relax. “You’re doing great, Cady,” he gave her a thin smile. “Turn back towards Eddy.”

  “You do have a destination in mind, right?”

  “Yes, I do. Do you know the SRO by the bodega with the big mural?”

  “Sure, I know where that is, why?” He couldn’t be taking her there. That was one of the seediest tenements in the city. The smell from the street was bad enough, inside the halls could make your eyes sting it was so appalling.

  “Relax, that’s not where we’re going,” he chuckled, clueing in to her apprehension. “Just head for that street and we’ll be fine.”

  Cady glanced over to see him slumped lower in the seat, his eyes half masted. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I just need to rest a bit and I’ll be fine.”

  “Diving off a five story building will do that to you, I guess,” she muttered, turning her concentration back to the road. There was very little traffic at that hour, and every pair of headlights she saw made her tense in fear until it passed harmlessly by. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out, glancing at the screen to see a text message from Ian.

  WTF happened here? Where are you?

  “I need to call Ian. I need to let him know I’m alright.”

  Ethan scowled, shifting higher in the seat. “What are you going to tell him?”

  “I’ll tell him that my boss went psycho and tried to attack me. It’s sort of the truth.”

  “Alright, but keep it short.”

  Splitting her attention between the road and her phone, Cady dialed his number and Ian picked up on the first ring.

  “Where are you? Are you alright?” he demanded before she could get a word out.

  “I’m fine. I’m assuming you’re home?”

  “You’re goddamn right I’m home. What the hell happened here, Cady? There is a fucking hole into our apartment. I can see Mrs. Wasserman right now standing in the hall talking to the cops. She said it sounded like a gang war out here.”

  “The cops are there?”

  “What else was I supposed to do when I came home to this mess? There’s a bloody knife on the floor, and you
were nowhere to be found.”

  “Shit,” she murmured; she’d forgotten all about the knife she’d slashed Ash with. “I’m fine. My boss went nutso after he dropped me off and he sorta busted into our apartment when I locked him out.”

  “That asshole did this?” Ian thundered incredulously. “He is so dead. I’m gonna…”

  “Ian, stay away from him,” Cady warned, filled with dread at the thought of her brother trying to hunt him down. “He is crazy insane. I mean look at that place.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m safe, I’m with a friend.”

  “Who?”

  “It’s nobody you know. Just don’t worry about me.”

  “Bullshit, I know all of your friends. Is it that Ethan guy? The cops want to talk to you both.”

  Shit. “Ian, I have to go. I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay and try not to worry, alright? Hopefully I’ll be home in a few days and I’ll tell you everything.”

  “Cady, don’t…”

  “That’s enough.” Ethan plucked the phone out of her fingers, smashing it against the dash hard enough to crack the plastic before he tossed it out the window.

  “Hey… did you have to do that?”

  “We can’t take the chance of them tracking you through your phone. I already got rid of mine.”

  “Aw man, I have eight more months left on my contract,” she said mournfully, staring at the gouge on the dashboard where her phone bit the dust.

  “I’ll get you a new one.”

  “That one had all my music in it,” Cady sulked, until she realized she was being childish. It was only a phone, not such an important thing to lose, all things considered. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be difficult, I swear. It’s just… it feels like I lost a lot of things tonight and that was the last straw, you know?”

  “Not really,” he admitted. “I’ve been trained to leave everything behind at a moment’s notice. I guess I haven’t formed any attachments to anything for a long time.”