Awakened (Auralight Codex: Dakota Shepherd Book 1)

by Shei Darksbane

  For an instant, I thought I had swayed him. He closed his eyes as an expression of earnest sorrow flashed across his features. “Then may God have mercy upon your soul.” He drew the sword, and I flexed my hand upward, gripping the lambent flames that sprouted from my palm without so much as a thought. The man in black hesitated, taking a step back reflexively.

  “Hold the hell on!” I yelled. I was as surprised as he looked that the flames had come to my call. I hadn’t even had to focus on it the way Nita had taught me. I’d barely even formed the idea of bringing the Hellfire forth when it’d just happened, coming as naturally as a breath of air. “Just hold it right there. I don’t know who you are and I have no idea why you want to kill me, but you don’t want to do this. Just put the sword down, and I won’t have to use this.” I held up my hand threateningly. His face contorted in disgust and outrage. I steeled myself. “I know you know what this is.” I didn’t. “And I know you don’t want me to use it.” I hoped. “So back the hell off, and we’ll all walk away from this.” The thumping from the other room was accented by the screech of metal twisting against metal, but I was entirely too distracted to process that at the moment.

  The man took another step back but his grip on the sword tightened. “This only proves that you are truly an abomination. A werewolf is one thing, but a werewolf who bears Hellfire is no innocent lamb.” His eyes darkened as he readied the sword. “For a moment, I believed your lies. But now I can not allow you to leave.”

  I was getting pretty desperate. I didn’t dare actually use the Hellfire on him. After all my practice with Nita, there was one thing I was absolutely sure of: if I unleashed the Hellfire in force, there was an excellent chance I would never regain control of it. And we were in the middle of a crowded building, full of innocent people, children, old folks, and probably even a couple of puppies. There was no way I would risk all of their lives, even to save my own, and I knew it. But he didn’t. I flexed my arm toward the wall beside me. “Take one step closer and I’ll set the building on fire.”

  The man snarled at me. “Fiendish creature!” he spat, incensed. He raised the sword to strike, but snapped his head around to the door as something hit it from the outside, hard, denting it inward and all hell broke loose. Everything seemed to happen at once. The door burst open and I grabbed the metal chair beside me, snuffing the Hellfire out with a force of will, and I swung the chair at him as hard as I could. I put my whole body into the swing, pulling the motion from my feet all the way up through my torso and into my arms as the chair connected with his arm, knocking the blade out of his hand as he turned to face the enraged Raelya who barreled into the room as the door slammed into the wall behind her.

  The man called out in surprise and presumably, pain as the chair hit him in the wrist and Raelya barreled into him, ducking low to put her shoulder into his chest. I barely stepped out of the way in time for her to bullrush him into the wall behind me, taking the wind out of him. His head snapped back into the wall, and he staggered as she took a step back. Raelya’s arms were handcuffed behind her back, and there was a sickly smell in the air that made my wolf surge once more in anger. I didn’t know why or how, but I knew that Raelya was hurt, and that absolutely enraged me.

  The man in black drew a smaller blade from the his other side and raised it to strike, but Raelya swept her body fluidly out of the way of his slash and spun to the side, snapping a powerful kick into his sternum. That kick had every right to herald the sound of bones snapping, but an odd shimmery light flashed around him and he only flinched at her powerful blow. I readied the chair in my hands for another strike, but couldn’t bring it to bear without risking hitting Raelya.

  As he lifted his arm again, Raelya shoulder-checked it into the wall. As they struggled, an Unawakened TSA agent rushed in, glanced at the sizeable dent Raelya had put in the metal door, then paled as his eyes landed on the man-in-black’s sword. He reached for his sidearm. In a split-second decision, I darted toward him as he pulled the pistol free from its holster and clocked his wrist with my chair, causing him to fumble the firearm before he could steady his grip. The agent yelped loudly in pain, and I was sure the sound would draw others down on us, but it was too late to care. I brought the chair back around and floored him with it. I might be small, but I knew how to apply my strength when I needed it. I was a security guard, after all.

  The agent crumpled to the floor, dazed and I spotted his fallen gun. I dropped the now-wonky chair and scooped up the pistol, bringing it up to aim as I stepped to the side and sighted the man in black. Raelya had pinned his arm with her shoulder but he had retaliated by winding his hand into her long, braided hair, and was using her golden locks as leverage, trying desperately, teeth clenched, to pry her off of his weapon arm. I steadied the gun with my other hand and breathed out, then fired, squeezing the trigger twice.

  The report of the gunfire was agonizingly loud in the tiny room, and the world went quiet beyond it, replaced with the shrill ringing of slightly damaged ears. The first bullet hit him squarely in the shoulder, that strange shimmer rippling over him again, and he bucked against the wall as Raelya dropped low. The second bullet hit him in the arm and splattered the corner behind him like a bloody Jackson Pollock original. Despite being shot, he glared up at me in defiance then glanced toward his sword and I pulled the trigger four more times, putting four more bullets, now with a clear line of sight, right into the center mass. The shimmering flashed twice, then seemed to snap somehow as the last two bullets hit.

  The man in black slid to the floor, clutching at his bloody wounds, and I crossed the room quickly to help Raelya up. I closed my free hand around her wrist to steady her and hissed as the metal handcuffs delivered a shocking sting to my skin. I adjusted my grip and pulled her to her feet, steadying her. She looked up at me and her eyes were bleary and exhausted, and oddly golden. My eyes went to the handcuffs which gleamed a little too brightly for steel. I cursed. “Silver?” Raelya nodded tiredly. I made sure she was steady on her feet, then turned to the dazed human agent and robbed him of his keys.

  I tucked the gun into the waistband of my pants so I could unlock the handcuffs. “Shit. I shot him. Why hasn’t everyone come running?”

  Raelya sighed in relief as the cuffs came free, and rubbed at the angry red burns left behind where they’d touched her. Blood smeared onto her hands as she rubbed them and I realized the ugly wounds were slowly oozing red. I snarled in a surge of outrage that came from deep inside. The smell of her burned wrists and fresh blood was making me angrier than I already had been. Raelya grasped my arm. “Get rid of the gun. We must go.”

  I glanced around and my eyes landed on the over-sized pot holding a small tropical plant. I did my best to wipe the gun with my shirt then dropped it into the pot. The man in black groaned as I stepped past him to lose the weapon, and I noticed his hands twisting in an odd fashion near his chest. “The hell…” I wondered aloud. The tingle of magic pricked at my senses and I noticed that his wounds weren’t bleeding anymore. “Crap.” I turned and hurried out with Raelya close by my side.

  We stepped out of the room and my ears popped again, feeling this time as if a pressure had eased from them. I shook my head at the effect, and noticed Raelya doing the same. The room emptied us into a hallway which led back around to the boarding area and we hurried that way, trying our best not to look too suspicious. I still had no idea why the whole place hadn’t come down on us at the sound of the gunfire, but I wondered if that odd pressure had anything to do with it. I’d have to ask someone about that later.

  But for the moment, we were safe, or at least safer than we had been a moment before, and I felt that was good enough. We slowed down as we exited the hallway and hurried back into the boarding area, making our way to the far corner, hoping to lose ourselves in the small crowd of passengers waiting to board the same flight. Just as we came in, the announcement went over the loudspeaker that our flight was boarding, and we rushed to get onto the plane, hopin
g, or at least I was, that if we could just get out of the airport, we’d be okay.

  A few minutes later, we were seated on the plane, and I whipped out my cellphone and dialed Adrien Michaelangelo’s number. I got the front desk, but they redirected me quickly. “Hello?”

  “Adrien? It’s Dakota. We had trouble at the Dallas airport.”

  “Dallas? I thought your layover was in Chicago.” His tone was immediately serious.

  “It was, but the flight was oversold and they swapped us. Anyway, there was a weird guy in a black suit—”

  Raelya cut me off. “Templar. Tell him.”

  I blinked but nodded. “Raelya says Templar. He attacked us, and I shot him.” I said the latter very quietly. Luckily, this flight was undersold and there weren’t any other passengers right near us.

  “Templar? Are you all right?” Adrien sounded concerned.

  “Mostly shaken up, but they put silver handcuffs on Raelya and it looks like she’s burned pretty badly.”

  Raelya shook her head. “I will be fine.”

  I frowned but nodded as Adrien continued. “Are you safe for the moment?”

  “I think so. We’re about to take off.”

  “Good.” I heard the steady clack of his keyboard despite the fact that my ears were still ringing from the gunshots. He must have been typing quickly. “I will inform Mr. Simms of the trouble you’ve run into and see to it that an escort awaits you in Calgary to assure your safe passage when you arrive.”

  “Awesome. Thanks.” I relaxed a little, sinking back into the seat.

  “I am terribly sorry about this, Miss Shepherd. This… this shouldn’t have happened.” He sounded pretty upset.

  “It’s not your fault. And we’re all right. I’m just kinda worried that we’ll be arrested as soon as we land.”

  “You won’t have to worry about that. It’ll be taken care of.” The typing stopped. “I’m just glad you’re not hurt.”

  I laughed breathlessly. “Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

  “Regardless, you have my apologies. I know you need to go, so for the sake of brevity, well done, Dakota. The Templar are extremely dangerous, and given your lack of experience, it speaks volumes that you were able to survive such an encounter at all. I am impressed.”

  “Shucks, Adrien. I just hit him with a chair. Raelya did the real work.”

  “Regardless, well done. Now, forgive me, but I need to make some calls and see if I can figure out how you ended up in Dallas in the first place. An escort will be waiting when you land.”

  “Thanks.” I ended the call, turned my phone to airplane mode and tucked it away.

  Raelya looked up at me. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded. “Nothing happened to me really. Just kinda shaken. And angry. Gosh, I’m angry. Am I supposed to be this angry?”

  Raelya nuzzled my shoulder slightly, leaning against my side. “When your pack is hurt, it is normal to feel angry.”

  That made sense. I put an arm around her and held her to my side. That felt better. The wolf started settling down finally. “For those who dare to harm my pack…” Raelya glanced up at me, smiling fondly. I grinned. “Their misery shall be deep-seated.”

  Raelya blinked and then burst into laughter. I squeezed her against my side and she hugged me back. All I needed was a pair of sunglasses.

  28

  The Simms

  Raelya covertly bandaged her wrists before takeoff so no one would notice the bloody welts. Apparently she’d come prepared with a tiny first aid kit just in case, and it was lucky she had since someone would probably have noticed the bleeding otherwise. She and I rested against each other through the entire four-hour flight. I gazed over her shoulder out the little window as dawn broke shortly before our landing. “That was one hell of a night.” I commented quietly. Raelya looked up at me sleepily and smiled. I squeezed her shoulders, happy that she was okay. Her wrists still looked bad, but she’d assured me they would heal given time.

  We exited the plane and went down to the luggage carousels to pick up our bags. Those in hand, we moved out of the way to find a place to stand and wait for our escort and our ride. No sooner had we shuffled out of the baggage pickup than I met eyes with a pair of sky-blue eyes that commanded my attention from across the room. He was a slender young man, maybe nineteen or twenty, with golden blond hair, dressed in a white button-down with a black vest, navy tie and black slacks. His aura stood out among the gray-scale crowd with its shimmery blue and purple that seemed to spiral in on its center. More than his eyes or the aura, however, it was the recognition in his expression that told me that this guy was most likely my escort. I nudged Raelya and we headed his way.

  The blond guy stood casually with his hands in his pockets, and watched us cross the quiet airport with sharp, clever eyes. I approached to a safe distance and tried not to startle when he suddenly asked in a light tenor, “Dakota Shepherd, I presume?”

  I glanced at Raelya cautiously then looked back up at him warily. “Uh, maybe?”

  A genial smile touched his features as he pulled a little wallet from his vest pocket and flicked it open to show me a badge with the familiar emblem of SII. “I am Sky Simms, Head of Calgary SII. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He extended his left hand and I stared at it dumbly for a few seconds before accepting it. There was no freaking way he was the right guy. He was just a kid!

  “Oh! Wow. Really?” I shook his hand lightly.

  “Let me guess, you were expecting someone older?” His smile showed his good humor.

  “Heh, I uh… I guess you get that a lot?” I smiled sheepishly. “It’s just, Adrien kept referring to you as Mr. Simms and I was expecting to meet someone a bit, well, different.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it anyway. I’m the youngest office head in SII history, and I’ve been in the job for a few years now.” He gestured for us to follow and we fell in with him as he led us out. “I’m not quite as young as I look, but young enough for the reaction to remain warranted.”

  “I’d have been surprised if you were old enough to drink.” I admitted.

  “Twenty six.” He smiled over his shoulder at me. “To offer some perspective, I’ve been with SII since I was fourteen, office head since twenty-two.”

  I blinked. “Wow. Nice.” He definitely didn’t look his age. He led us to a black sedan waiting at the curb and opened the trunk for us. We put our luggage in, then piled into the back seats as Sky politely held the door for us. “Thanks.”

  He got into the driver’s seat and I still had to shake the feeling that he was too young to be driving. He put the car into gear and smoothly pulled out into traffic. “You must be tired after your flight, and the earlier incident. I’ll take you to the hotel directly. We just have to pick up my partner, and then we can be on our way.”

  “Okay, sweet.” I glanced at Raelya who smiled at me contently. “This is my friend, Raelya.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Raelya.” Sky glanced over his shoulder, nodding to her.

  “And you, Mr. Sky.” Raelya smiled at him friendily.

  “Please, you may call me Sky. I’ve asked Adrien to stop calling me Mr. Simms, but he’s always been formal like that.”

  He pulled into an alley between the parking deck and another building, then parked on the street.

  “So your partner was… hanging out in the parking deck?” I asked.

  A woman rounded the corner with a freaking fifty-caliber sniper rifle slung on her back and I ducked reflexively. Sky glanced back at me. “It’s all right. That’s her.”

  I relaxed. At least mostly. Sky popped the trunk and I craned my neck to watch the woman as she quickly broke the gun down and placed it into a case and closed the trunk. Her aura was honestly very strange, patchy and mottled, with a wider variety of hues than I recalled seeing on anyone else, but most of them were rather faint, dominated by a milky penumbra and a silvery gray near the center. She opened the passenger d
oor and slid in, glancing first to Sky and then back to us. Sky smiled. “Thanks, darling.”

  The woman smiled at him with a sweet adoration in her eyes. “Any time, love.” I looked her over quietly. She was fit with enough strength in her frame to warrant lugging around a gun that size. She had a mottled brown hair that seemed a bit patchy in a couple of places that she wore in a loose ponytail, and her eyes were blue. No… As she glanced back to greet us, I noticed that one of her eyes was green. “Hello.” She smiled at us.

  “Dakota Shepherd and Raelya Gundarsdottir,” Sky announced to her sidewardly. I hadn’t introduced Raelya with her surname, so I figured he’d gotten that from Adrien. “This is my wife, Melissa Simms.”

  I blinked, a little surprised. She was easily ten years older than him. But eh, love was love. I smiled at her friendily. “Nice to meet ya. Was that a Barret M82?”

  “It was. Nice to meet you too.” She glanced over at Sky then back to us. It was the second time I’d noticed her glancing at him like that and something seemed off about it. “I hope you had an easy flight.” She frowned sympathetically, a wash of earnest apology washing over her face.

  It was then that my eyes landed on the silver iron cross hanging from her neck and I tensed from head to toe. I finally remembered where I’d seen it before. On my SII reading material, and on the man who had assaulted me in Dallas. It was the symbol for an organization known for terrorizing all non-human beings in the name of the Christian god. The Templar. I jerked back in the seat, reacting instinctively to realizing I was in close quarter with an enemy. “What the hell!”

  Sky glanced to the rear view mirror and put up a hand. “It’s okay! She’s with us. Really.”

  “But I thought they wanted to kill us!” I wasn’t alone in distrusting her; Raelya had tensed as well.

  “Not all of them.” Melissa said sadly.

  Sky put a hand on her hand. “Melissa isn’t with the faction that seeks to eliminate supernaturals. She isn’t an agent anymore at all.”