Shadow Realms

by Kelly Carrero

  “This group you’re a part of abducts teenagers, do they? Did they put you in this cage as well?”

  “No. And no.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “So, you imprison defenseless girls, do you?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Kali, do you even realize what you’ve done?”

  “Yeah, I naively thought my big brother would help me rescue Mason. Not stick me in a cage.”

  He raised a brow. “You drank the blood of an innocent, for fuck’s sake.” He ran his hand through his hair. “My own sister was stupid enough to become the very thing I’ve sworn to destroy. The others wanted to kill you. And they should’ve. If you were anyone else, you would’ve been dead by now. You’re only alive because you’re my sister.”

  I barked out a laugh. “What? I’m supposed to thank you? Like hell.”

  “No. That’s not what I’m saying.” He turned away from me to hide his frustration, then quickly turned back. “Actually, yes. You should say thank you. Because that is the only reason you are alive.”

  “I was doing fine until your vigilante group decided to try to kill me.”

  Finn breathed out harshly. “We were trying to save innocent lives, which is more than I can say for you.”

  Ouch.

  I stared at him for a few moments, trying to calm down. “I was trying to save our brother, and in case you forgot, he’s innocent.”

  “What about the woman you bit?”

  “She was going to die anyway.” I cringed as the words left my mouth. How could I put one person’s life above another? But the fact I’d been powerless to stop the herd of hungry fledglings from feeding on that woman.

  “And you were partly responsible for her death. That shit doesn’t just disappear. It stays with you. Marks a piece of your soul.”

  “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

  “I’ve never tasted someone’s blood if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “Then how do you know? Because apart from being pissed as hell at you and every single one of your posse for locking me in this cage, I feel fine—great even.”

  “That’s the blood talking. You’re transitioning after you fed from that woman. There’s no going back.”

  “Really? Because I have absolutely no urge to rip out your neck while I drink, draining your life and feeding my desires.”

  The color drained from his face, and he swallowed hard. I could almost see the visuals of me carrying out that act playing in his mind.

  Rolling my eyes, I said, “I have no bloodlust. I was only giving you an example of what I imagine I should feel if I really was one of them. Luckily, I’m not. I barely got a drop of her blood in my system before you so kindly shot me in the shoulder. Which, by the way, was a real ass of a thing to do to your sister.”

  His face softened. “I didn’t know it was you. But, if I had to do it all over again, I would. And it appears my arrow might be the only thing that saved you from becoming the monster you’re trying to rescue Mason from.”

  “I never would’ve let myself get that far. I would’ve controlled it. I had to. For Mason.” My voice broke as I spoke his name.

  Finn stepped closer and spread his hands across the glass. “He’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “I can’t lose him, too.” I looked up at him through teary eyes. “It’s my fault he was taken. I should’ve done something.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  Turning my back to the glass, I slid down and sat with my knees bent as tears slipped down my cheeks. Everything had gone so wrong, and now I was powerless to fix it. “You need to let me out.”

  Finn sat with his back against the glass a foot to my left so he could still see me. “We can’t let you out. And even if I wanted to, the others wouldn’t let me.”

  “I’m not a vampire. I didn’t turn. I can’t even see the demons anymore.”

  “The fact that you saw them in the first place means you should be dead.”

  “Everyone sees them when they first drink someone’s blood.”

  “Not if it’s only a drop. You had to have fed, not just tasted.”

  I twisted around to face him. “Of course, I fed to become a fledgling. But that last time when you so kindly shot me with an arrow, I barely tasted her blood. You saved me from becoming like them.”

  He stared at me. “You and I both know that’s a lie.”

  I choked on a laugh. “What? You’re now denying it was you who shot me?”

  Finn shook his head. “I take full credit for that one. It’s the part about you barely tasting her blood that I’m calling you out on.”

  His intense gaze held mine, trying to get me to admit the truth. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to admit to that one. Not because I was ashamed of what I’d done—which I was—but if I did admit it, then my chances of getting out of this cage would diminish.

  “What happened to you?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  He let me have that win, but I could tell the question still burned heavily in his thoughts. Eventually, he said, “I grew up.”

  “No shit. But how did you end up here, kidnapping and locking up innocent girls?” I gestured to my surroundings.

  “We didn’t kidnap you.” When I raised an eyebrow, he said, “I prefer to think of it as saving you. And I don’t just mean from the demons and vampires. I’m talking about from one of us.”

  “Right,” I said. “But again you’ve digressed to how lucky I should feel for being saved.” I made air quotes with my fingers. “Yet you’re still to tell me how you ended up running around after vampires and shooting arrows at them. The last time I saw you was five years ago when you were just another jock, and now you’re this… I don’t know what the hell you are.”

  “I’m a hunter. I hunt.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s it? No other explanation as to what you’ve been doing since you left us?”

  “I didn’t leave you.”

  I barked out a laugh and stood. “If you’re not going to let me out or tell me anything, then why don’t you go do your job and hunt down Mason? Because all you’re doing right now is pissing me off.”

  Sighing, Finn stood and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

  “I’m not the one you need to be worrying about. I mean, what the hell am I going to do in a cage?”

  He took a few steps closer to me. “You’re not going to do anything, but someone here might.”

  I blinked in surprise. “Are you saying I’m in danger?” When he didn’t reply, I yelled in frustration, “All the more reason to let me out of here.”

  Finn shook his head, his mind already made up. “I can’t do that.”

  “The hell you can’t.”

  “You’re in quarantine, and if I let you out before it’s time, it will be too late for you.”

  “So, you’re going to sit outside my cage until times up so that one of your little buddies doesn’t put a bullet through my head?”

  “They’ll gas you, but that’s not the point.”

  “Then what is?”

  His face lit up with anger for the first time since I’d seen him. “You should’ve been eliminated. We broke protocol. And not everyone agrees with my decision.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not a freaking vampire?”

  “It doesn’t matter how many times you swear you haven’t crossed sides. The fact remains you drank blood. Now, you’re either going to prove everyone wrong, or I’m going to lose you anyway.”

  I could see the hurt in his eyes when he spoke about me dying, but I couldn’t let myself dwell on the ifs when we had bigger things to worry about.

  “Look, we can argue that point all day, or you could let me out so we can go save our brother. Every second I try to convince you I’m not going to tear your head off the moment you let me free is another second Mason could wind up dead.”

  “I told you we’re working on his loca
tion.”

  I raised my brows. “Really? Because all I’ve seen is you standing here, watching over me, waiting for me to prove you right.”

  “If you’re going to prove me right, then you’ll be out of here this time tomorrow.”

  “Hang on,” I said. “Are you saying you think I’m not a full-fledged vampire?”

  “That’s what I chose to believe last night, and that’s what I’m choosing to believe now, because…” He swallowed hard. “You’re not going to be a statistic.”

  “You’re damn right about that. But as I’ve been trying to tell you, Mason will be if you don’t get your ass out there and save him.”

  Finn strode over to the far end of the room, grabbed a stool, and brought it back. “He’s in no danger at the moment.”

  “How would you know?”

  Finn placed the stool on the floor and took a seat. “Because I’ve been in his situation before. And this isn’t the first time we’re conducting a retrieval.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean you were in his situation before?”

  He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “That’s why I left. I didn’t run away as you might think. The faction were waiting for me after they conducted the mandatory urination test. And they took me to supposedly find a cure for the humans against the vampires. But that’s bullshit. There is no cure for those demonic bastards. Even if there were, no vampire would take it. They’d rather die than become human again. Or at least that’s what the demons would make them do.”

  He clenched his jaw as he became lost in thought. Eventually, he picked up where he’d left off. “The government isn’t working on a cure to save the world. They’re trying to find the ones who have the ability to stop them.”

  I drew my brows together. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  Finn nodded. “The demons have infiltrated the government. They have their hands in everything.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “How can a demon that is nothing but a shadow, without any actual physical attributes control the government?” I choked on a laugh. “There’s no way vampires would have the self control to be able to walk amongst humans and not be detected. I mean, have you seen those things? Of course, you have. You’re a freaking vampire hunter.”

  “You’d be surprised what some vampires are capable of.” He leaned back in his seat. “Not all of them are unable to control their bloodlust. There are a select few older ones who have learned to control their desires and, by doing so, have become the perfect hosts for the demons they are enslaved to.”

  “The demons possess vampires,” I clarified.

  He nodded. “Allowing the demons to walk amongst us with unimaginable power. And it’s not just physical. They have a mental persuasion that allows them to get what they want. It’s part of the reason why so many humans sway to the vampire tendencies.

  “There aren’t many humans that would desire to become a monster, that wouldn’t think twice about ripping their families throats out without the demon’s persuasiveness.

  “Those things are animals. They prey on the weak, the vulnerable, and sisters that would do anything to find the brother that was taken from her.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not some vulnerable girl. A lot has changed since you left.”

  “You got into drugs and skipped so many days at school you almost got held back last year. Yeah, I’d say you’ve changed a lot.”

  I scowled at him. He had no idea why I did the things I did. He was completely clueless.

  It was because of him.

  Breathing out my anger, I focused on the present. “If you were taken, you must know where Mason is.”

  “Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. They could’ve taken him anywhere in the country or even overseas by now. But we’re working on it. We have a team looking over the surveillance and trying to piece together whatever they can from the disruptions they caused to the satellites during the retrieval. However, I doubt they’ve taken him far. They’ll most likely hold him with the others until it’s time.”

  “Time for what?” I asked, my throat going dry, fearing they were going to perform some demonic ritual using him as a sacrifice to their demonic gods.

  “Until he turns eighteen.”

  I scrunched up my face in confusion. “That’s not for over two years.”

  “Which is why I said we have time.”

  That was music to my ears. Two years and three months to be exact, but I wasn’t planning on leaving him there that long. All I had to do was wait another twenty-four hours in this cage, and then I could track down the people—or demons—responsible for taking Mason.

  Finn narrowed his eyes at me. “I know that look. Don’t get any ideas about going after them. I’ll find him, and you will go back to school and pretend this never happened.”

  “Like hell I will.”

  His steely gaze met mine. “This is not open for discussion.”

  Holding his gaze, I said, “You don’t get to order me around.”

  “Then I’ll keep you in here until Mason is retrieved.”

  5

  Anger boiled deep inside of me, and I had to do everything I could to not let it show. Finn could think what he wanted, but there was no way on earth I was going to let him do this alone. Mason had been my responsibility from the moment Finn disappeared from our lives, and I’d be damned if I was going to let Finn take over now.

  Finn had been right about not letting me out of his sight. He sat on that damn stool for the next five hours.

  A small flutter erupted in my stomach as the man who’d tried to beat the shit out of me entered the room from the far side. He was tall, well-built, could take care of himself—so I’d found out first hand—and I had to squash my thoughts of wanting to feel him on top of me again.

  That shit wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t have time for romance or even a fling for that matter. Boys were nothing but a distraction, and he appeared to be one of the worst.

  His blue eyes met mine, and I would’ve given anything to know what he was thinking, partly because I was a little vain, but mostly because I wanted to know if he was the one who wanted to kill me. That would be a killer for our nonexistent relationship.

  Stealing his gaze away from mine, he strode toward Finn, who met him halfway. They spoke in a tone too low for me to hear, which was more evidence I no longer had the vampire abilities running through my system.

  Of course, they wouldn’t believe me if I told them. Finn and this twenty-four-hour mandatory confinement he’d placed me in weren’t going anywhere.

  Finn turned toward me and walked up to the cage. “I have to go piss. I’ll be back in five.”

  “I have to piss as well.”

  He gestured toward the toilet bolted to the floor in the corner that looked more like a portajohn. “No one’s stopping you.”

  “You seriously expect me to use that?”

  “Either that or the floor because you’re not getting out.” He quickly added, “Not until I get back.”

  “Well, at least you haven’t changed your asshole tendencies.”

  “Only nineteen hours to go.” He tapped his hand against the glass. “Be good while I’m gone.”

  I breathed out harshly, blowing a strand of my brown hair away from my eyes. Freaking bastard and his bossy ways. I was quickly remembering how much he used to piss me off. He’d been so overprotective before he disappeared, and it seemed nothing had changed.

  Finn whispered something to Kade then headed out of the room.

  Once he’d disappeared from sight, Kade glanced over his shoulder and strode toward me. “Now this Ash must have a serious crush on you, or she’s really worried.”

  When I drew my brows together, he produced my phone, showing me the fifty-seven text messages and numerous missed calls that had gone unanswered.

  My eyes lit up. “Where did you get that?”

  A smirk spread acr
oss his face. “I borrowed it from your brother.”

  I grinned. “Finn’s going to kill you.”

  Kade shrugged, his cheeky smile becoming infectious. “He’ll get over it.”

  He flipped the phone back to face him and scrolled down the screen. “What do you want me to say?”

  My stomach flipped. I knew I liked this guy. “Don’t suppose you want to let me out of here so I can call her myself?”

  His nose scrunched up as he shook his head. “That, your brother would kill me for. And then Max would try to kill you the second he got the chance, and I’d have to kill Max. I really don’t want to kill Max.”

  The smile dropped from my face as heaviness settled over my heart. “Max is the other one from last night, isn’t he?”

  Kade nodded. “He’s a good guy, just not very forgiving.”

  I licked my lips and wanted to punch myself for it. “And what about you?”

  He looked up at me, his baby blues piercing the layers of ice I was trying to maintain.

  Shit. I was a sucker for those eyes. Not to mention the dimple when he smiled.

  “Personally, if it were up to me, you would have been out of quarantine a long time ago.”

  “To be set free or… um… killed?”

  He laughed, and even that was glorious. “You’re safe with me.”

  That was music to my ears. “Then why don’t you let me out?”

  “As I said, your brother would kill me, and theoretically, Max would have every right to…” He lifted his hand and pretended to shoot me.

  Resting my forehead against the glass, I closed my eyes and breathed out harshly. “I’m following a lead, and my signal is touch and go. Will call you next chance I get. X X.”

  A couple of seconds later he said, “Done.”

  I smiled. I’d expected him not to understand what I’d said or thought I was speaking to him. But he got it. “Thanks. That should keep Ashley quiet for a while.”

  Tilting my head back into an upright position, I let my gaze drag over his body, allowing myself to appreciate how fine he was. Then I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind where I was determined to keep them until Mason was safe. I may have been a man-eater yesterday, but today… Today, I was celibate so I could focus on what needed to be done. “So, do we have any leads on Mason’s location?’