Shadow Realms

by Kelly Carrero

  He raised his brows as his lips turned up into a grin. “We?”

  And there went any infatuation I may have had for the guy. “So, you’re just another douche like my brother.” I turned around and retreated to the back of the cage, where I sat with my legs straight out in front of me, crossed at my ankles, hands resting on the floor, trying to restrain myself from losing my shit.

  “Douche?”

  “How about overprotective dickhead who thinks girls need to be protected by big macho guys because we can’t protect ourselves?”

  He chuckled. He actually had the audacity to chuckle.

  I glared at him.

  “Your brother isn’t like that, and me… You have no idea what I’m like either.”

  I raised my brows. “Oh no? Because from where I’m standing—or sitting—it appears that neither of you want to let me know what the hell is going on with Mason.”

  His smile dropped. “That’s protocol. We can’t let the enemy know what we know.”

  “I’m the enemy now, am I?”

  “While in the cage, you technically are. But as I said, I don’t think you need to be in there. There’s clearly no bloodlust going on in there.” He gestured to my body.

  I sucked in a sharp breath as his gaze swept over me. God, I was a sucker for a good-looking guy. “Then why won’t you tell me?”

  “Because then Finn wouldn’t let me down here to see you.”

  My stomach fluttered as his words left his mouth, and to my dismay, my brother walked in to relieve Kade of his babysitting duties.

  Finn strode up to Kade with his hand held out in front of him. “Where’s Kali’s phone?”

  “You dropped it. I found it under the seat.” Kade pulled my phone out of his pocket and pressed it into the palm of Finn’s hand. “You should be more careful.”

  I bit down on my grin. He wasn’t just a pretty face. The more Kade spoke, the more I liked him. Either that, or they were playing me for a fool with the whole good guy, bad guy approach.

  That would be so Finn’s style.

  6

  The remainder of my hours in the cage seemed to drag on forever. Finn never left my side, never offered me a drink or something to eat, and only looked away when I finally gave in and used the toilet.

  Sitting against the back wall, I stared at him as he glanced at his watch. “How much longer now?”

  “Two minutes and thirty-four seconds.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me out early for good behavior?”

  “You know the rules,” he said, unimpressed by my constant nagging.

  I threw my head back and let out a strangled laugh. “You think two minutes is going to make any difference?”

  He folded his arms across his chest and stared unwavering at me until an alarm beeped ten times through the speakers above. He stood and strode over to the control panel on the side of the wall.

  A moment later, a click sounded on the door to the cage, followed by a release of pressure.

  I pushed myself to my feet, brushed off my pants, which were a little worse for wear, marched over to the door, and opened it. “Like I told you twenty hours ago, I’m not a freaking vampire.”

  Relief swept over me the moment I breathed in the fresh air. “What did you do to the air in there?” Before he could open his mouth, I said, “Never mind. I think there are more pressing things you need to fill me in on. And I don’t want you to give me any of that crap about me going back to school and forgetting I’ve seen you and the fact that you locked me in a cage for the past twenty-four hours. Because I will not pretend everything is normal.”

  Finn strode toward me and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me off the ground. “You have no idea how many times I wished I’d hugged you more.”

  I bit my lip as a swell of emotions threatened to escape. All this time, I’d been so angry at him, yet the moment he hugged me, I was about to cry like a baby.

  That was so not going to happen.

  “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have left.”

  He lowered my feet onto the ground and released his grip on me. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “We all have choices.” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I gently punched him in the stomach. “And once again you made the wrong choice.”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “You might think differently if you knew the whole truth.”

  “And let me guess. You don’t plan on telling me, do you?”

  Finn scratched the back of his neck. “Nothing has changed—”

  I threw my hands out to my sides. “Everything has changed. And if you don’t agree, then you’re dumber than I thought.”

  Someone chuckled, breaking me from the rant I was about to lay down on Finn.

  Peering around Finn’s tank-like chest, I sucked in a sharp breath when I caught sight of Kade.

  Finn glanced over his shoulder. “I thought I told you to give us a minute.”

  Kade took a few steps closer. “I would’ve if I didn’t think you’d want me to warn you that Max is on his way down here to assess the vampire girl for himself.”

  I scrunched up my face, wondering why this Max guy would still have issues with me once I’d passed their little test. “And the problem with that is?”

  Kade stepped closer. “Because there’s a good chance Max still wants to kill you.”

  7

  Finn stared at me, a mixture of fear and anger boiling deep inside of him, ready to break free. I’d seen that look on him a million times before, and usually it had been directed at me or Mason.

  “Finn, I am not a vampire,” I said, trying to reassure him. “Therefore, this Max guy will have no reason to still want to kill me once he realizes that.”

  Kade and Finn glanced at each other, a knowing look in their eyes.

  “What?” I asked, warily.

  “Nothing.” Finn grabbed my elbow. “It doesn’t matter.” He dragged me toward Kade. “Take her somewhere until I work this all out.”

  I yanked my arm free, anger boiling inside of me as to how Finn so easily thought he was the boss of me. That he had a right to decide what I could do. “I don’t think so.”

  Finn glared at me. “Kali, this isn’t the time to assert your teenage rebellion.”

  My jaw dropped open. “That’s real rich coming from the guy who negated all his responsibilities toward his family over the last few years.”

  He breathed out through clenched teeth. I was getting on his nerves as much as he was on mine. “This is not open for discussion.” He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against Kade’s chest. “Take care of her.”

  Kade gingerly wrapped his arm around me. “You know I will.”

  As much as I wanted to be in his embrace—hell, I wanted more than that—seeing Kade just as worried about me set my nerves on edge. From what I’d seen of Kade, which really wasn’t much, he didn’t appear to be the one to overdramatize a situation like my brother tended to do where I was concerned.

  Glancing over my shoulder at Finn as Kade quickly ushered me away, I said, “This isn’t over.”

  His steely gaze held mine. I didn’t look away. Finn needed to know how serious I was, and I hoped I wasn’t about to trip over and face-plant. That would’ve been really good for the badass image I was trying to portray. It was the only way I would get through to him.

  Finn nodded, and I almost had to do a double take, because that was so not like him to be worn down that easily. No matter how much I wanted to believe he would allow me to help them, history had told me otherwise.

  Kade opened the door, peeked outside, grabbed my hand, and led me into a dark stairwell. Making sure I stayed behind him, we made our way up the polished cement stairs that were softly illuminated by what appeared to be blue emergency lighting.

  This whole idea of hiding me seemed utterly ridiculous, and I wished this Max guy would run into us before Kade was able to get me away so that we could get this whole meet and greet over with.
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  Arriving at the top of the stairs, Kade paused as he tilted his head to the side, listening to the voices in the distance slowly approaching.

  It looked as if I were going to get my wish.

  Almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, Kade jerked me forward as he ducked across the hall and into a room. Pressing me against a wall with one hand, he closed the door with his other, sending the room into darkness.

  But that didn’t stop me from feeling the heat coming from his body as he held his hand against my stomach, brushed his cheek against mine, and whispered into my ear, “Shh.”

  Why he thought he needed to state the obvious was beyond me, but I wasn’t complaining. If something good was going to come out of all this ridiculousness, then it was going to be me spending time with Kade.

  I groaned internally at how easily I fell back into my old ways.

  Closing my eyes, I tried to get a grip on my hormones, which was pretty hard for a seventeen-year-old girl standing in such close proximity to someone like Kade. The guy was hot. And the whole badass hunter thing he had going on didn’t do anything to curb my interest.

  Kade’s body tensed as the voices approached us and then grew distant as they made their way down the steps to the dungeon.

  He opened the door, momentarily blinding me as light spilled into the room. I barely had time to adjust before Kade’s hand once again found mine and he was dragging my ass through the maze of dark, wood-lined hallways, shoving me into small alcoves when we heard someone coming. Eventually, he led me into a room with a bed.

  He closed the door behind him, locking it, then leaned against the door frame and let out a harsh breath. “If anyone knocks, you’re to go out that window and wait for me to come get you.” He pointed to the far window to the left.

  I strode over to the window and peered outside. Thankfully there was a ledge that led to a nearby rooftop large enough for me to hide on. Not that I planned on doing so.

  If someone was going to search this place for me, I was going to stand my ground. I wasn’t running from anyone.

  Turning back to the room, I took in my surroundings. There was minimal furniture, a bed toward the right of the room, a small couch along with a TV on the left, an immaculately neat desk and chair to the side of it, and a bookcase filled to capacity stretching the length of the wall from the door to an entrance to what I assumed was the bathroom. “Is this Finn’s room?”

  He shook his head as he stepped forward and put his hands in the back pocket of his pants. “No. This is mine. Finn’s room would be too obvious.”

  “A bit soon in our relationship, don’t you think?”

  His face paled.

  “I’m kidding.” I sauntered over to the couch and took a seat. “You guys need to lighten up.”

  The corner of his lips tipped up. “You have your brother’s humor.”

  I scrunched up my face. “Somehow I doubt that.”

  Kade swung the desk chair into the open, twisting it to face me, then lowered himself onto it, resting his elbows on his knees as he watched me.

  I rolled my eyes. “Ask whatever you want to know.”

  He shrugged. “I thought you were the one who wanted answers.”

  “I do. But I didn’t think you would give them to me.”

  “I’m not your brother.”

  Biting my lower lip, I let my gaze drift over his body. “Clearly.”

  Not bothered by my obvious stares, he held my gaze, waiting for the inevitable questions.

  “What is this place? And why do I get the feeling you know me more than you should?”

  “Easy. This is the Eastern headquarters of the Society of the Shadow Realms. We’re a team of hunters trying to eradicate the threat posed to mankind and protect the innocent from their advances,” he said as if he were running through a spiel he’d said a million times before, which I highly doubted since they were so secretive. “And you’re right about me knowing you more than the few times we’ve met. Don’t get all weirded out, but there’s been many occasions where you’ve been my responsibility, just not this time when you decided to take matters into your own hands. That’s on Finn, which is why he’s been so hard on himself over what you’ve done and the fact that they got hold of Mason. He’ll never forgive himself for either.”

  “Firstly, my decisions aren’t Finn’s responsibility. Secondly, what the hell do you mean by I’ve been your responsibility?”

  Remaining nonchalant, he leaned back in his seat. “There was always a small chance that the mutated gene runs in your family. That’s the one the demons are searching—”

  “I know what it is.” Actually, every single human on the planet over the age of four knew what it was. The fear was ingrained into us since it was first discovered and the so-called government began stealing anyone who matched.

  “Well, as I said, there was the smallest of possibility Mason could’ve given a positive to the faction’s test, so we had to keep an eye on him. The testing wasn’t supposed to occur until a fortnight from now—well, at least that’s what our intel revealed. You were no longer a possibility since your test came back clear, but Finn couldn’t leave you. Guilt has been playing on his conscience since the day he was recruited by the team. And so, I have been helping him out by keeping an eye on you and making sure you didn’t get yourself into trouble. But we all know how that turned out.”

  I glared at him. “What would you do if your brother was taken?” When he didn’t answer, I said, “Would you let your brother go, for those assholes to do whatever they wanted to do to him in the name of a cure?”

  He clenched his jaw in the same way that Finn’s did when I hit a nerve. “I never said I blamed you for your decision. It just wasn’t the best way to approach the situation.”

  “Except I didn’t know you guys existed.” I was getting a little exasperated. “Maybe if Finn had bothered to keep in touch over the years, I would’ve made a more appropriate choice.” I didn’t know why I was taking it out on Kade when it was clearly Finn I had a beef with, but I couldn’t help it. I was frustrated beyond words, and maybe if Finn had told me where he had been all these years, Mason would still be with us. I could’ve helped him avoid the testing like I had.

  A niggling suspicion crept over my soul as I wondered if I would’ve been taken had I not blackmailed someone to take the test for me. My reason wasn’t because I was worried about being a match for the gene; it was because I would’ve tested positive for drugs. And no matter how much I pretended I didn’t care about a single thing in my life, it was a lie.

  If they found out I was doing drugs, I would’ve been off the track team, and after Finn’s disappearance, it was the only solid thing in my life—an outlet for every little screwed up thing.

  He nodded slowly. “There’s a code we all must live by, which states we must not tell. If they knew we were watching you…” Kade sighed, clearly not wanting to get into the details of what would have happened. “Finn couldn’t tell you.”

  “And now?”

  “Now things are different. You’ve crossed the point of no return, which has pissed off some people and has brought up a whole heap of questions to others.”

  “I’m guessing Max is one of those I’ve pissed off.”

  Kade nodded. “You committed the ultimate sin—not once but twice. There’s no going back on that.” He tilted his head to the side. “Or at least there shouldn’t be.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “I told Finn I barely tasted a drop of the sacrifice’s blood.”

  “One drop is all it takes.”

  8

  I held my breath as what Kade had said sunk in. I should’ve been turned. I should’ve been a vampire.

  I wasn’t.

  A prickling sensation spread across the back of my neck. “What did you mean when you said there’s no going back?”

  The corner of his lips tipped up. “Don’t worry. No one’s going to kill you. You’ve completed the incubation period wi
thout any signs of bloodlust.” He let his gaze drift over my body, making my stomach go weak. “You’re clearly not a vampire.”

  “I may not crave blood, but I sure as hell could use some water.” That was another lie—or partial lie. The thought of blood still made me feel sick, but I had no desire to quench my thirst. And after being deprived of all food and water for over a twenty-four-hour period, I should’ve been thirsty and hungry as hell.

  That secret would remain just that. I was not a danger to anyone around me, and I wouldn’t give them any more ammunition to detain me while Mason was still missing.

  “There’s a sink in there.” He pointed toward what I thought was the bathroom. “And as soon as Finn comes, we’ll take you to the cafeteria.”

  I headed to the bathroom and turned on the faucet, having no intention of taking a sip.

  With both hands on the marble counter, I looked at my reflection in the mirror, hardly recognising the person staring back at me. My features were still the same. I had brown hair and fair skin. I hadn’t grown an extra foot or a third arm. What had changed was my eyes. They no longer held the innocence they had prior to my fledgling experience. Not that I was very innocent before. This was something different. Something hard to explain.

  It was as if drinking the blood changed something deep within my soul. It should’ve scared me, but it didn’t.

  Whatever it was, I was carrying that secret to the grave—or at least until Mason was safe.

  I ran my hands through my hair, then twisted it up into a messy bun, using strands of my hair as an elastic. Sighing, I assessed myself for any signs of injury that may have been hidden to me since I’d been detained. Surprisingly, I was fine. Someone had cleaned me up, and—