Trick of Shadows (The Duskhunter Saga Book 2)

by Sara C. Roethle

  I increased my pace.

  Realizing something was wrong, Steifan jogged to keep up at my side, but didn’t ask questions.

  We came to a small cul-de-sac of homes. A young mother watched us from across the way, her children playing in the dirt at her feet. Her eyes flicked to a house directly across from hers, which seemed to be the one harboring the horrid stench.

  Bastien and Steifan each lifted a sleeve to cover their noses, so it must have been strong enough now for them to smell it too.

  “I really don’t like the smell of this,” Steifan groaned.

  “It might have nothing to do with J. DeRose,” I said, already walking toward the home. The young mother had gathered her children and retreated through her door.

  I reached the odor harboring door with the Seeing Sword thrumming steadily at my back. I listened for a moment, then braced my right leg, flicking out the other to kick the door in.

  It flew back with a loud thwack, then fell partially off its hinges. The smell was overwhelming. I covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve and walked inside.

  A man lay sprawled in the middle of the floor, his body ripe with the hot sunlight streaming in through the damaged roof. Rusty brown stains had soaked into the hard-packed dirt floor. The straw mat and few belongings within the home had been tossed about, some things torn to shreds.

  I sensed Steifan and Bastien at my back as I knelt near the putrid corpse. It was difficult to tell with the mottled skin, but it seemed like he had been badly beaten before being killed. I picked up a fallen quill to move light brown hair away from his neck. No vampire bites, though that didn’t mean they weren’t elsewhere on his body.

  “I think that’s Jeramy,” Bastien croaked behind me.

  I turned to see him staring wide-eyed at the corpse. His skin had gone so pale, his freckles stood out like ink stains.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  Bastien’s body convulsed like he might vomit. He clamped a hand over his mouth and nodded.

  “Wait for us outside,” I instructed. “Do not go far, and yell if anyone bothers you.” Once he was gone, I looked to Steifan. “What do you think?”

  I asked it like I already knew what he should think, but in truth I hadn’t a clue.

  While he looked a little green, Steifan maintained his composure. “I think that our only lead is dead, though I cannot tell the cause of death.”

  I stood and took a step away from the corpse. “The patterns on his flesh would suggest strangling after a long period of physical violence. Yet the stains on the floor suggest a large amount of blood was spilled here.”

  Steifan observed the darker stains on the dirt floor. “Do you think . . . Charlotte?”

  I looked back down at the corpse, willing it to tell me its secrets. “Perhaps. Her neck wound wouldn’t have been enough for so much blood, and that would mean a vampire didn’t drink it. We should have checked the back of her body for other wounds.” I shook my head, feeling like the idiot that I was. “I don’t go into situations considering that mortals would actually fake a vampire kill. Perhaps I should start. Our carelessness has deprived us of answers.”

  Bastien’s raised voice caught my ear. “It would be unwise of you to quarrel with my associates!”

  I was rushing outside before I could even think about it. Once I saw the four men surrounding Bastien, and they saw me, the Seeing Sword echoed a warning. As if I couldn’t already tell that these criminals meant us harm.

  Steifan was at my back, both of us yet to draw our swords.

  Our would-be assailants took measure of us. They hardly merited the same in return, but the one with a crudely made blade was too close to Bastien. He could slit Bastien’s throat before we could reach him.

  I took a few slow steps toward the group, and the men did not react. Good. If I could get close enough, I could eliminate the threat before Bastien could be harmed.

  “We probably don’t want to kill them,” Steifan whispered behind me.

  “I’m not an idiot,” I hissed, then more loudly asked, “What do you want?”

  The man with the blade spun it like he knew how to use it. “Your swords, and perhaps a taste of your lovely flesh, witch.”

  Bastien seemed frozen beside him, unsure of what to do. Two of the other men had swords riding their shoulders. Muscles corded down their tanned arms, with white scars standing in stark relief. The older of the pair had a wicked scar across one eye.

  I took another step closer. “Well you can’t have my sword, and my flesh is out of the question, so I might just take a slice of yours instead.”

  The man closest to Bastien laughed. “Come and get it, witch.”

  I drew the Seeing Sword, but Steifan was right, we needed to avoid killing them. Wouldn’t do to have word spread that hunters were killing innocent people, because that’s exactly what witnesses would say if they figured out what we were.

  The men eyed my sword hungrily. I heard Steifan’s sword hiss from its sheath.

  With all eyes on our swords, I swiftly moved one hand from my hilt and drew a dagger from my belt, sending it sailing toward the man near Bastien.

  It sliced across his arm, as intended, missing anything vital. But his momentary surprise gave me the time I needed to lunge forward and shove Bastien out of the way. As Bastien hit the dirt, I turned, lifting my sword to parry a strike from the scar-faced swordsman. I spun my sword in a small circle, catching his blade and tossing it aside.

  He looked at me in shock, like he’d never had someone disarm him before, and maybe he hadn’t. He preyed on the weak. I would have loved to kill him.

  He saw his own death in my eyes, and slowly backed away, hands raised.

  Steifan had disarmed the other swordsman, and the man who had originally threatened Bastien clutched his bleeding arm, his blade nowhere to be seen. The fourth man, who had never shown a weapon, was backing away, on the edge of fleeing and leaving his partners behind.

  With the situation fully assessed, I whipped my blade back toward the scar-faced swordsman, aiming the tip at his throat.

  He lifted his hands again. “You win, no amount of coin is worth this.”

  I edged my sword’s tip a little closer to his throat. The sword was quiet, he meant what he said, yet his words confused me. “What do you mean? What coin?”

  His voice came out strained, “A stranger approached me with a lot of coin. Said to gather some of my boys and keep an eye out for a red-haired witch.”

  I pressed my sword against his flesh. “Did the stranger tell you to kill me?”

  He gulped, drawing a pinprick of blood on his throat. “Yes, and anyone with you. But it’s not worth the coin to me anymore, I swear it.”

  “What did the stranger look like?”

  He shook his head minutely. “Don’t know, it was dark, he wore a hood. He gave me half the coin upfront, and said he would find me with the rest once you were dead.”

  I smiled wickedly, debating killing him regardless of the consequences. Anyone who would take coin to kill an innocent stranger deserved to die.

  “Please don’t kill me,” he rasped.

  “Lyss,” Steifan’s voice was low with warning.

  I lowered my blade, my attention still on the man before me. “You will leave the city, and you will never look back. If I ever catch a glimpse of you again, you will become the hunted. For I am of the Helius Order. Hunting is what I do best.”

  His bulging eyes and gaping jaw told me the stranger had not informed him we were hunters. Now that he knew, he would not be bothering us again. But still, if I ever saw him outside of the city, somewhere private, I would finish what I had started. Because I knew he would go on to harm someone else.

  He took two steps back, then turned and ran, leaving his sword in the dirt.

  Steifan brandished his blade at the other three men, and they all turned tail and scurried away.

  Once we were alone, Bastien ran toward me. “That was amazing! You saved my life!�
��

  “No,” I said, my gaze on Jeramy’s broken door, “I nearly got you killed. I want you to go back to the duke’s estate. Do not approach us again.”

  “But—”

  “Go!” I shouted.

  Bastien aimed the full weight of his hurt expression at me for a heartbeat, then turned and ran away.

  Steifan moved to my side, watching him go. “You didn’t have to be so harsh.”

  I sheathed my sword, then picked up my dagger from the dirt. “There have been two murders, and someone wants them to go unsolved enough to hire mercenaries to kill us. They could have killed Bastien before we even stepped outside. If anything, I was not harsh enough. He needs to stay away.”

  Steifan sighed and sheathed his sword. “What do we do now?”

  “We find anyone involved in Charlotte’s murder, and we cut off their heads.” I started walking. If I wasn’t on a warpath before, I most certainly was now.

  Chapter Seven

  We headed back toward the inn in silence. I wanted to make sure our few belongings and horses were safe before venturing back toward the White Quarter. If someone had been hired to kill us, someone else might have been hired to make off with our horses and goods to cover up our disappearance.

  The Seeing Sword was steadily making my spine itch with its energy as we walked, but it was hard to tell who was pondering attacking me. Many eyes watched us from within hovels and out on the street. Word of our altercation had spread quickly.

  I took another step, then nearly stumbled as a strange sensation passed over me, like walking through quicksand.

  Steifan kept walking, not seeming to notice anything amiss. He didn’t even notice as he left me further and further behind. My steps slowed until I could no longer lift my feet. The eyes on either side of the street followed Steifan, none looking my way.

  I felt oddly not real, and it was a sensation I recognized. It was broad daylight, so it wasn’t vampire mind tricks. It was glamour. Glamour so strong it made my mind believe I couldn’t move. Even though I knew it was happening, I couldn’t fight it.

  I wasn’t surprised when I heard the Nattmara’s voice behind me. “Hello hunter, I did not expect to see you this far from Castle Helius.”

  I turned to face Egar, the male Nattmara who’d escaped us in Charmant. He was also part Sidhe, which was why no one in the streets seemed able to see us. Now that Steifan was out of sight, many of them retreated to their homes.

  “I saw you yesterday, didn’t I?” I asked. “I saw you beyond a fence in a garden.” The face I had seen was clear to me now, the short dark hair and large blue eyes. I hadn’t wanted to believe it was him.

  Egar inclined his clean-shaven chin. He looked young and harmless, though I knew he was anything but. “I smelled a corpse. I wanted to collect it, but you beat me there.”

  I nearly gagged at the thought of Egar eating Charlotte’s rotted corpse. “I thought Nattmara preferred fresh victims.”

  He licked his lips. “Yes, but any will do. All I need is flesh and blood to sustain me. I like to get to know my environment before I start hunting, and I only just arrived here yesterday.”

  I considered the possibility of Egar being Charlotte’s killer, and perhaps seeking out her corpse to finish feeding, but it didn’t add up. If he’d had her and maybe even Jeramy freshly dead, we would have found little more than bones and globs of flesh.

  “What do you want from me, Egar? You know now that I’ve found you, I will have to kill you.”

  He laughed, a young, charming sound that fit his exterior. The worst of monsters were usually just dark on the inside. “You are trying to solve a murder. I could tell you what you’re missing.”

  He was standing so close he could reach out and strangle me, and I would be powerless to stop him. Every muscle in my body strained to move, but it was hopeless. “You claim to have just arrived yesterday. What could you possibly know?”

  His satisfied grin told me he hadn’t just arrived, and he had lied about what he’d been doing among the wealthy estates. “I know a lot of things, hunter. I know that there is powerful blood within the city, far more delicious than yours. Help me find it, and I will help you solve your murder.”

  “You know I would not sacrifice another human to you. Now free me from this glamour, I have much to do.”

  He tilted his head. “I thought you wanted to kill me. Now you simply want to escape?”

  I sucked my teeth. That, and moving my mouth was all I could manage. I was lucky he was allowing air into my lungs. I did want to kill him, he deserved to die, but I knew I wasn’t capable. I wanted to draw my sword, but my arms didn’t budge. If he wanted to kill me right now, he could probably just cloud my mind and I’d be dead before I realized what was happening.

  He watched the thoughts play across my face. “I see you understand. My sister was powerful, but she inherited mostly my mother’s blood. I have the glamour of the Sidhe, and no mortal can stand against it. I believe you will be drawn to the powerful blood in this city like a moth to the flame, or else it will be drawn to you.” He stepped closer. “I will be watching you, hunter. You will lead me to what I want, and if you don’t, I’ll take you instead. You should have let me help you solve your murder while you had the chance.”

  Reality seemed to shift, sending me reeling backward. When I righted myself, I was alone in the street.

  “Lyss!” Steifan shouted.

  I turned to see him running toward me.

  He grabbed my arms as he reached me. “Where did you go? I was nearly back to the inn when I realized you weren’t beside me.”

  “The Nattmara was here.” I shook my head, what were the chances that I would run into that creature again? “It is hunting something here.”

  Steifan let me go. “Egar?”

  “Yes.” I felt badly shaken. I had faced powerful beings, but not like Egar. How could you kill something that could warp your mind so completely? The death of Egar’s father, the one who had kept him contained, was going to be the death of us all.

  Steifan looked me over, slowly shaking his head. “I’ve never seen you like this, Lyss.”

  “Like what?” I asked distantly.

  “Scared.”

  A few people had come out into the street to watch us. Despite the sun shining overhead, my skin felt cold. “Let’s get out of here. We need a pint of ale and a new plan. We must figure out how to kill the Nattmara.”

  As we started walking, I noticed Steifan glancing around warily, as if he expected the Nattmara to still be watching us. Maybe he was, but as long as I wasn’t under the creature’s glamour, the Seeing Sword should warn me. In fact, Egar was probably the reason the sword had whispered a few warnings while we were in the wealthy district. And maybe even the reason Steifan thought he felt eyes on him.

  “How can we kill it, Lyss?” Steifan asked, breaking the drawn out silence.

  “I don’t know. Most of what is known about Nattmara is little more than myth. We are probably some of the only people alive today to have faced one.”

  Steifan was quiet for a moment, but I could tell he had something to say.

  I kept my attention trained on the street around us as we neared the nicer homes leading back to the market square. “What is it?”

  “Asher is an ancient. He might know something about Nattmara. He might even be able to kill it. Does glamour work on vampires?”

  I sighed. Now that the shock had worn off, I was beginning to get angry. We were here to solve a murder—two murders now—I did not need the issue of the Nattmara added to the list. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore, but the Nattmara is not the only thing in the city that wants our blood. We must move forward with caution.”

  “Should we leave the inn?”

  It wasn’t a bad idea. Surely once the mysterious stranger realized we were still alive, someone else would be hired. We might be attacked in a more public place where we would be forced to kill someone. “I don’t know where
we would go.” I stopped walking and looked to him. We were nearly at the square. “Do you have any connections you could use? Find us a place to stay, and a place to stable the horses?”

  His hazel eyes danced with worry. “I might be able to find us somewhere, but we would be endangering any who would take us in.”

  He was right. We could not ask innocent people to harbor us. “We’ll have to find somewhere on our own. There are plenty of warehouses in the city. If you could find someone to stable our horses, that should be safe enough.”

  “Consider it done.”

  We were drawing a few eyes, so we continued walking. I didn’t like feeling so vulnerable, far away from Castle Helius and other hunters. I knew Steifan would watch my back, but it might not be enough. I might just have to take his suggestion and ask a certain vampire for help.

  Did glamour work on vampires? We would soon find out.

  Chapter Eight

  By nightfall Steifan had found a place to stable our horses with our few extra belongings, and I had learned some interesting information. Talk of the tavern was that there was a witch practicing within the city. Real witches were extremely rare, so she probably wasn’t genuine . . . but if she was real, she might know how to break Egar’s glamour.

  It was worth investigating, mostly because we didn’t have any other options. Maybe she would even have insight on the missing people. Of course, she could also be the murderer. According to the histories, the most powerful spells often required sacrifices, the closer to human, the better.

  Steifan and I walked north, passing the wrought iron gate to the wealthy estates without stopping. We had provided enough pints of ale to learn that the witch could be found in the old part of the city where the former keep once stood, long abandoned since a new keep had been erected within the White Quarter.

  The road we walked wound ever upward toward the apex of the hill upon which the city was built. We left the light of torches and lamps behind for the more subtle glow of occasional candles in windows and a few distant fires. These darker streets were the perfect haunt for pickpockets, yet somehow I felt safer in the darkness. More hidden and at peace.