The Hidden Truth (Shadow Claw Book 7)

by Sarah J. Stone

  She gave a laugh that lacked humor. “They didn’t touch anything. My clan thought I had called upon the storm. That’s the only way I could have prepared for it. I tried to tell them, I tried to explain to them, but their minds were already made up. I was a freak.” She paused to take a breath, and Samuel watched her, his body motionless. “Of course, they did not know that I had foreseen the storm. So, they chose to believe that everything that I claimed to know was because I had set it in motion.”

  “I don’t understand,” Samuel said, his eyes narrowed. “They thought you summoned a storm? For what purpose? Only witches who dabble in…“ He broke off with a swear word. “They labelled you as a dark practitioner.”

  For a moment, he thought he saw the witch’s eyes gleam with tears.

  Her voice was even. “I left before they could. A few of them stuck up for me, but the majority thought I was an abomination. It wasn’t just the storm. I would know when someone was about to fall ill, or when someone was about to get pregnant. More than being cast as a traitor, I was fearful somebody would find out about me being a seer.” Her hands trembled. “They would have taken me away. I have heard whispers of what goes on in the compound of the Inner Circle. They would have destroyed me.”

  Samuel let her take a breath. He watched her try to calm herself down and asked, “Not even your family knows?”

  She shook her head.

  The shifter glanced at the window. It was still daylight outside, and he looked at her. “If nobody knows, then why are you being hunted?”

  Chapter 3

  Rowena did not show any surprise.

  She did not even pretend to be taken aback by his revelation.

  “They’re called hellhounds,” she told him. “They hunt Seers. I didn’t know about them when I ran. For a few months, I traveled. I thought that maybe if I looked, I would find somebody who was like me. I didn’t find anyone, but I learned things, things that are the stuff of nightmares.” She swallowed. “There is a reason my kind isn’t great in numbers. Our abilities not only make us useful, they also make us a threat, one that has to be eliminated. I don’t know much about hellhounds. But what I do know is that they are born to destroy Seers. The ones that are after me know of my location, but they can’t get to me.”

  Samuel leaned back, and frowned. “I’ve heard of hellhounds. I’ve never come across one though.”

  Rowena stood up and moved closer to the fire, as if she was feeling cold. “They are horrifying creatures. What I learned about them helped me keep them at bay, but a time will come when I will ultimately slip. They cannot appear in the daytime, but during the night they are at the height of their power.” She took a deep breath and looked at Samuel. “I’ve been holding them off for three years.”

  Now, that shook the shifter. “Three years?” he asked, incredulously. “That is a long period of time!”

  Rowena shrugged her delicate shoulders. “Life here can be monotonous. And I was careful to avoid human contact. Protecting myself is one thing. I could not afford to put someone else in harm’s way.”

  “So, you isolated yourself?” Samuel asked, not liking that solution.

  “What other way was there?” Rowena asked, poking the fire sullenly. “I don’t know how to fight them. I don’t know how to kill them. It is like playing a game of hide and seek. One day, I am bound to slip up and find myself at death’s door.”

  Samuel watched her as she kept toying with the flames. “Where do I come in in this?”

  The witch glanced at him. “Since I’m not around humans – or anyone, in fact – the frequency at which I saw the future decreased. By quite a lot, in fact. I don’t expect you to understand, but that was relaxing in a way. Then,” she sighed, “a few weeks ago, I saw the barriers around my home breaking. I saw the hounds approaching me. And I saw you protecting me.”

  Samuel opened his mouth, but she raised a hand, cutting him off. “That was only the first prophecy I saw of you. There were so many more, each rolled into the next so that it started to become harder to distinguish between reality and what I was seeing.”

  Rowena stood up and walked over to the window and leaned against it as she looked outside, a picture of quiet despair. “I have seen my death, Samuel. And I have seen you. I don’t know why you are here. Maybe to protect me, or maybe to delay the inevitable.”

  Samuel didn’t say anything, and Rowena looked at him. “You can leave, you know. One thing that I’ve learned about my prophecies is that they are never set in stone. They can be changed. Now that you know what you are walking into, you have the option to leave and get away from here, as far away as possible. After all,” she smiled, the smile of a woman who had nothing to lose now, “this is not your fight.”

  “So, you’re telling me I can leave?”

  “Of course.” Rowena peered outside. “It’s not even noon. You can travel quite a way and find shelter for the night.”

  “So, I leave right now,” Samuel said conversationally, “and leave you at the mercy of these creatures?”

  Rowena blinked, and then looked at him. “I know I saw you in my prophecies. I know you’re supposed to play an important role, but think about it, Samuel. These are hellhounds. I don’t know anything about them. There can’t be much that you know about them. You’re just a shifter. What will you do against them? How long will you be able to protect me from them?”

  Samuel stood up, infusing his voice with the power that had been granted to him. “As a shifter, I might be useless. But as a Councilmember, I can give you the protection that you need.”

  Rowena swayed and then gripped onto the sill, and said hoarsely, “The Council? You belong to the Council?”

  Samuel tilted his head. “That frightens you. Why?”

  Rowena’s lips trembled. “Because, from what I know, hellhounds are sent after Seers, by the Council!”

  Samuel pursed his lips. “Then, I am afraid, you have been grossly misinformed. The Council is not aware of the existence of your kind. And even if they were, we don’t resort to such cheap methods and tricks to deal with problems. Hellhounds are dangerous. Not because of their abilities, but because they don’t have any master. At least, I’ve never heard of hellhounds who have masters. I don’t know much about them at this very moment, but there are archives that exist which can help us.”

  “Help us?” Rowena echoed. “You’re going to help me?”

  Samuel looked at her, his face a grim mask. “Seer or not, you are a species that belongs to the Others. That means you fall under the protection of the Council. And if an Others’ species is being eradicated, that means this is a Council problem.”

  “I don’t understand,” Rowena asked, bewildered. “What are you going to do?”

  “First of all, we’re going to find out how you came by this information. Then we’re going to go check Council archives. For some reason this hellhound is after you. We need to find out why and then send it back where it came from. Or destroy it. Hellhounds don’t just go after somebody for no apparent reason. Someone wants you dead.”

  Rowena pushed away from the window. “I’m not that important.”

  Samuel’s smile was hard. “Summoning a hellhound is not a simple task. Somebody deliberately summoned one and gave it your scent. And that means, contrary to what you believe, there is a person, or persons, who is probably aware of what you are. The second you leave the protection of these four walls, you will be vulnerable. We need to move fast.”

  Rowena’s legs trembled, and she sat down on the floor heavily. She had been so sure that once she told this shifter the truth, he would not stay. She had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die a painful death. And here this man was, giving her hope, telling her that all was not yet lost.

  “What is wrong?”

  “W…What?” She touched her cheeks and her wet hand drew away. The tears that slipped down her cheeks were out of her control. “Give me…a minute. I need a minute.”

  She buried
her face in her knees, but she found she was unable to compose herself. Her body shook with the effort of containing the sobs that tore from her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said over and over again. Why couldn’t she stop these tears?

  Samuel stood up. “Take all the time you need.”

  He walked past her, and his hand touched her head in a comforting manner.

  The sound of the door shutting behind him had her collapsing into herself as she cried for the first time since she had been shunned from her clan. Her sobs were harsh and her body shook uncontrollably as she released that tight control she had held over herself.

  It took a while for her to calm down.

  When she was drained of her tears, she lay on the floor in front of the fire, her mind exhausted. She felt her eyes slipping shut, her body too tired to fight the effects. Movement on the floor, a pair of feet, and she felt herself covered with something warm and soft.

  She murmured something, but she couldn’t understand what it was she had just said as she slipped into dark oblivion.

  The sound of something rattling in the pot had her drawn out of sleep. Her eyes were still closed as she felt the floor vibrate with someone moving about. Her eyes slowly opened, and Rowena saw her house guest cooking something in the pot. A glance outside told her that it was evening. How long had she been sleeping for?

  “A few hours.” Samuel’s voice had her attention snapping to him. “You’ve wrapped your emotions up so tightly that it drained something out of you, letting out some of that pain you’ve hidden inside. I’ve reinforced your barriers, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

  “No…” Rowena stopped when she realized how scratchy her voice was. “I apologize. I just,” she pulled herself into a sitting position, “I didn’t think there was any chance for me to survive.” She looked down at her entwined fingers, her voice rough. “I didn’t expect you’d actually help me.”

  Samuel stirred the broth with the spoon quietly. She said she had lost all hope, and yet she had carried on each day, holding onto something, waiting for something. The scholar in him wanted to study her, to observe her. The Councilmember in him wanted to protect her.

  That was what the vampire had said to him, that his desire to protect the weak was so strong that it overrode all other instincts.

  Even when the Council had been working in tandem, he had been the most compassionate one of them all. Even Abigail had hardened to some extent after so many centuries of dealing with cruelty. It was said that humans were the most dangerous of animals. But after his years in the Council, Samuel no longer believed that. Others were just as capable of depraved acts that shook one’s sensibility. It destroyed something in each Councilmember to have a firsthand look into the atrocities committed. The judgements they then passed were not always kind. Sometimes, harsh acts resulted in cruel judgements. Examples had to be made.

  It was a wonder that he had retained his heart and soul.

  But the fact was that he had. And this woman was just sitting here, waiting to die. He couldn’t let that happen. He could see how she struggled to be brave each and every day. He could see the bitterness that had seeped into her soul.

  She was young. From the glimpses he had seen of her personality, she was spirited, cheerful, and mischievous. In the moments when she was forced out of her past, he could see the laughter dancing in her eyes.

  He poured some broth in two bowls and handed one to her.

  When her hand stretched out to take the bowl, he gripped her wrist in a gentle, but firm hold. “I’m here now. And I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you. That is a promise from me. And I never go back on my word.”

  Rowena swallowed at the intensity in his eyes and nodded.

  He smiled and went back to his own meal. Samuel was aware that the witch watched him as he partook in his meal, but he wasn’t bothered by it. When he got up to wash the bowls, she went to check on her security measures.

  “I need to collect some herbs,” she commented as she checked the remaining stock of the powder.

  Samuel threw her a sharp look. “Right now?”

  Rowena shook her head, “No, but soon.”

  Wiping his hands, Samuel warmed them in front of the fire. “I’ll keep watch tonight. And tomorrow, we’ll leave.”

  Rowena turned to look at him, her eyes wide, “Leave? And go where?”

  “We can’t fight, Rowena. Not until we have a better understanding of what we are up against.” He straightened up. “You gathered enough information to determine that you were being chased by hellhounds. Not everything that you found out was correct, though.” Samuel glanced at her. “We need to go see whomever it was that gave you this information.”

  “What about the hellhounds? If we are exposed at night–”

  “We’ll carry our security measures with us.” A small smile. “We’ll set up camp as soon as the sun is about to set. Don’t underestimate me, Rowena. I can protect you.”

  The witch blushed, “I wasn’t doubting you.”

  She was an attractive woman, Samuel noted. Once this mess was settled, she would find herself a suitor in no time.

  “When the Council…” Samuel paused. There were things she did not need to know. “There are certain archives that Councilmembers have access to. They are very well hidden. That will be our next stop.”

  Rowena looked troubled, “If you do manage to destroy these creatures, what’s to stop more from coming after me?”

  The shifter did not look worried. “To start something, you just need an idea. Things will play out as they will, Rowena. A little faith never hurt anyone. Now go back to sleep. We’ll be moving very quickly tomorrow, and you will need all the energy that you can get.”

  Samuel watched over her as she lay down, and he knew that she was too tense to sleep. He didn’t try to strike up a conversation. This was moving too fast for her, and he knew she needed some time.

  He stripped and shifted, lying next to her mattress, his eyes on the window.

  He had spread out that strange powder inside the lining of the room, but his head lifted as something struck him.

  He hadn’t covered the outside of the house.

  It was too dark to risk going out and doing so. Alert now, he got up and paced.

  He heard Rowena turn and twist in her makeshift bed, and when he heard her sharp intake of breath, he looked at her.

  Her eyes were fixed on the small window, a terrified look in them.

  Samuel looked at where her eyes were focused.

  The creature that peered in was something out of a grotesque horror movie. Its eyes were red, the color of blood. Its fur was as black as the night itself. It looked like something that had crawled out of hell.

  It was no wonder where its name came from.

  Samuel didn’t shudder. He walked over to the window at eye level with the hellhound and stared back.

  The creature snarled, and the house shook.

  Rowena’s cry of alarm and fear had Samuel snapping at her, making her still.

  He shifted. “Even if the walls were to fall in, this thing cannot enter, Rowena. Go back to sleep. I am right here.”

  The witch trembled, but gave into the authority in his voice.

  Samuel didn’t shift back and just stood there, staring at her creature.

  His expression was blank. He showed no display of power to intimidate it. He just stood there, his arms crossed against his chest.

  The creature tried to attack the stone building again, but Samuel heard Rowena murmuring something and this time nothing happened.

  The hateful look thrown toward the witch had Samuel stepping in front of her protectively, blocking the hellhound’s view of her.

  It snarled.

  And that was how the rest of the night went, with Samuel standing guard over the witch he had now vowed to protect from the creature that looked like it wanted to drag both of them into hell with it.

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